CAIRO (AFP) - A Cairo court sentenced a man to three years in prison on Saturday (March 12) for claiming that many women in the conservative country have extra-marital affairs, a judicial source said.

Taimour Subki, who runs a Facebook page titled The Diary Of A Crushed Husband, made the claim in a television interview in December, sparking an uproar.

The misdemeanour court convicted him of spreading "false news that disturbs the public peace", the judicial official said.

He may appeal the ruling.

A backlash on social media had already led to the cancellation of the talk show, aired on private satellite station CBC, that hosted Subki.

"Many women cheat on their husbands... I can say that 30 per cent of women are ready to be deviant," Subki said, pointing to the southern cities of "Asyut, Minya, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan". Subki said his remarks had been taken out of context.

"I didn't mean to insult anyone and I was speaking generally," he wrote in a Facebook post before his arrest.