CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Monday
sentenced a businessman to three years in prison for trafficking and sexually
assaulting seven underage girls at an orphanage he founded, judicial sources
told AFP.
اضافة اعلان
Media and real estate tycoon Mohamed el-Amin was
arrested in January on accusations that he had sexually assaulted the young
girls at an orphanage in Beni Suef, about 100 kilometers south of Cairo.
Amin, who owned the popular CBC television network
before it was sold in 2018, faced up to 25 years in prison. The three-year
prison sentence can be appealed, a judicial source told AFP.
The case had come to public attention after a
Facebook page accused Amin of sexually assaulting young girls. In addition to
witnesses who “confirmed the testimonies of the victims”, images were found on
the businessman’s phone during the investigation and recordings were produced
of the victims recounting the assault, judicial sources said.
The prosecution said the victims accused Amin of
regularly assaulting them “without their consent”. “He abused his power against
the orphan girls, whom he sexually assaulted and threatened to expel (from the
orphanage) if they reported him,” it said.
Three years is the lightest penalty provided by Egyptian
law, which lays out a maximum 15-year sentence for sexual assault. But the
penal code sets a minimum sentence of seven years if the victim is a minor or
if the perpetrator wields power over the victim, with a maximum penalty of life
in prison (25 years) if both conditions are met.
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