Badawi`s predecessor, Hisham Geneina, was sacked by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in March after he stirred controversy in a raft of interviews at the end of last year in which he claimed that government corruption had cost 600 billion Egyptian pounds ($67.6 billion)over a four-year period.
Sisi appointed a fact-finding commission that quickly concluded Geneina, a former judge, had misled the public. Geneina was charged this month with spreading false news about the cost of corruption. His trial began on Tuesday.
Sisi has made fighting graft a priority for his government as it struggles to rebuild an economy battered by political turmoil since the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak`s 30-year rule.
Pro-government media accused Geneina of being an Islamist because was appointed by Sisi`s predecessor, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
As military chief, Sisi ousted Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule, outlawing the group and declaring it a terrorist organization. He went on to win a presidential election in 2014 and launched a fierce crackdown on dissent, drawing widespread allegations of abuse by human rights groups.
The government says it follows the law and says cases of prisoner abuse are isolated incidents.
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