A prison-themed restaurant is doing good business in the Egyptian coastal city of Mansoura, despite the sensitivities of a country where thousands of people are languishing in jail on what right groups say are trumped-up charges.

The restaurant, called Food Crime, serves up props like handcuffs, inmate number plaques, a prisoners' cage and even an electric chair as selfie material, but the owner, Waleed Naeem, 37, dismisses anyone who tries to link the theme to the large-scale crackdown on dissent since the military ousted an Islamist president in 2013.

Mr Naeem said: "The people of Mansoura really like this restaurant and think it's a great idea. But others are making a huge deal out of this on social media. My restaurant is not political. I don't think it has anything to do with real prisons and those inside them."