An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced a businessman to three years in prison for trafficking and sexually assaulting seven underage girls in an orphanage he founded, judicial sources told AFP.
Real estate and media tycoon Mohamed el-Amin was arrested in January on charges of sexually assaulting girls at an orphanage in Beni Suef, some 100 kilometers south of Cairo.
Amin, who owned the CBC television network before its sale in 2018, was facing 25 years in prison.
The three-year sentence can be appealed, a source told AFP.
The case came to light after a Facebook page accused Amin of sexually assaulting young girls.
During the investigation, images were found on the businessman’s phone, judicial sources said. In addition, recordings of the victims recounting the aggression were produced and witnesses “confirmed the testimonies of the victims,” they added.
The prosecution said the victims accused Amin of regularly assaulting them “without their consent.”
“He abused his power against orphaned girls, sexually assaulting them and threatening to expel them (from the orphanage) if they reported him,” she said.
Egyptian law establishes a maximum sentence of 15 years for sexual assault. The lightest sentence provided by law is three years.
But the criminal code establishes a minimum sentence of seven years if the victim is a minor or if the perpetrator exercises power over her, with a maximum sentence of 25 years if both conditions are met.
