CAIRO, Dec 22 (Aswat Masriya) - Novelist Ahmed Naji was released from Bulaq police station on Thursday a few days after an Egyptian court suspended his prison sentence on charges of publishing "sexually explicit" excerpts from his novel, lawyer Mokhtar Mounir said.

Naji already spent around 10 months in prison on charges of publishing "sexually explicit" excerpts from his novel Istikhdam al-Hayah (Using Life) in the state-owned cultural newspaper Akhbar Al-Adab.

The newspaper's editor was ordered to pay an EGP 10,000 fine for publishing the article.

Previous appeals and motions of Naji’s sentence filed by his lawyers have been rejected before the court suspended his sentence on Sunday. 

The court scheduled a session on Jan.1 to examine an appeal filed by Naji against his two-year suspended prison sentence. 

In the case the appeal is rejected, Naji could be imprisoned again, according to Mounir. "The release is only until the appeal is decided upon by the court," he said. 

The case dates back to 2014, after a reader filed a complaint claiming that the text caused him to "experience heart palpitations and an extreme feeling of sickness along with a sharp drop in blood pressure”.

Naji was initially acquitted in his first trial in January. However, the prosecutor appealed, leading to this sentence in February as he was accused of violating public modesty.

Several human rights groups have repeatedly called for the immediate and unconditional release of Naji. An online campaign titled "Egypt art on trial" said that Naji's imprisonment violates Article 67 of the Egyptian constitution which has "banned punitive detention for crimes related to artistic work."