Egyptian actor Khaled Abol Naga won the Best Actor award at the 36th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival.

The award is for his leading role in Eyes of a Thief, directed by Najwa Najjar, Palestine's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2015 Oscars.

On the sidelines of the festival, Abol Naga drew attention over his remarks on Egypt's political issues.

Most recently he publically criticised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration, quoting failures in security.

Following his comments, lawyer Samir Sabry filed a complaint at the prosecutor-general's office on Sunday accusing Abol Naga of treason and disrupting social peace.

A day later a group of Egyptian filmmakers and writers signed a petition demanding that Sabry be disbarred for attempting to violate Abol Naga's constitutional right to fredom of expression.

Abol Naga is one of the most prominent contemporary Egyptian actors, with a career spanning over 15 years. He is known for roles in movies such as Mowaten wa Mokhber wa Haramy (2001), Wahed Sefr (2009) and Villa 69 (2013), among others. He often collaborates with young Egyptian director Ahmad Abdalla, acting in his films such as: Heliopolis (2009), Microphone (2010) and Decor (2014)

His role in Eyes of a Thief is Abol Naga's first collaboration with the Palestinian filmmaker.

Abol Naga is also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.