CAIRO, Jan 13 (Aswat Masriya) – A three-year prison sentence served to an Egyptian youth accused of atheism is part of a "wider government push to combat atheism and other forms of dissent," Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

A misdemeanour court sentenced on Saturday Kareem al-Banna to three years in prison on a 1000 Egyptian-pound bail after accusing him of insulting Islam.

Banna was arrested last November by a group of citizens who handed him over to the authorities for content he published on Facebook seen as an insult to Islam, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression reported.

In a statement condemning the sentence, HRW addressed several prison sentences served for blasphemy charges recently, suggesting there is a "coordinated government crackdown on perceived atheists."

"Atheists are one of Egypt's least-protected minorities, although the constitution ostensibly guarantees freedom of belief and expression," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director. "Egyptian authorities need to be guided by the constitution and stop persecuting people for atheism."

The international watchdog cited a report by the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) released in September 2013, which counted 42 defendants arrested for contempt of religion since 2011, 27 of whom had been convicted. HRW listed a number of other citizens arrested for contempt of religion since then.

HRW noted that the majority of those arrested were charged with insulting the Islamic religion.

Sayeda Zainab prosecution referred an Egyptian writer to trial in December 2014, accusing her of contempt of the Islamic religion.

Fatima Naoot, an Egyptian writer and poet, had published a note on her Facebook page in October, criticising the Islamic ritual of sacrificing animals on the day of eid al-Adha.

HRW reminded that Egypt is party to a group of international human rights treaties which oblige its government to "respect and protect" freedom of religion, belief and expression and to steer clear of discrimination. Such treaties include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.