CAIRO, Egypt -- Lawyers have filed an appeal on behalf of a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president.

Abdel Kareem Nabil, a former law student at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, used his blog to advocate secularism and criticize conservative Muslims.

He accused Al-Azhar, Egypt's foremost Islamic institute, of encouraging extremism, calling it "the university of terrorism."

One of Mr. Nabil's lawyers, Rawda Ahmed, said an appeal was filed Monday and a court hearing was set for March 12.

Last week's conviction has brought a flood of condemnations from international and Egyptian human rights groups, as well as from fellow bloggers. Washington also has said it was concerned about the verdict and sentence.

But the Egyptian government has defended the court's decision.

"No one, no matter who he might be, has the right to interfere with Egyptian legal matters or comments on Egypt's decisions," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement on Friday.

Judge Ayman al-Akazi sentenced Mr. Nabil, 22, to three years in prison for insulting Islam and inciting sectarian strife and gave him a fourth year for insulting President Hosni Mubarak.

Mr. Nabil, who describes himself as a secular Muslim, did not react as the verdict was read. His family, devout Muslims, did not attend any of the trial sessions.

Egypt, a top U.S. ally in the Mideast, arrested a number of bloggers last year, most for connections to a political movement whose goal is democratic reform. All but Mr. Nabil were released, a sign of how sensitive this country is to religious criticism.

Mr. Nabil's frequent attacks on Al-Azhar led the university to expel him in March, then push prosecutors to bring him to trial.