CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appealed on Wednesday (Oct 28) for an end to the Prophet Muhammad being the target of "insults" in the name of free speech.

"People have the right to express what they have in mind... (but) I suppose this stops when the feelings of more than one and a half billion (Muslims) are hurt," he said.

"Please, stop hurting us," Mr Sisi said in a televised address to mark the anniversary on Thursday of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.

"To insult the prophets amounts to underestimating the religious beliefs of many people," he added.

Mr Sisi did not refer by name to French President Emmanuel Macron and his defence of the right to mock religion following the murder of a French schoolteacher over Prophet Muhammad cartoons he had shown in class.

Mr Macron's comments have triggered protests and a call to boycott French goods in some Muslim-majority countries.

There was little sign of the call being heeded in Egypt despite boycott calls on social media.