Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld on Tuesday a three-year imprisonment sentence against Safwat El-Sherif, who served as information minister under late President Hosni Mubarak, for making illicit gains. The court rejected an appeal by El-Sherif in the case and also upheld a fine of EGP 99 million (about $6.3 million). Tuesday's ruling is final and cannot be further challenged by El-Sherif. In September 2018, a Cairo criminal court sentenced El-Sherif to three years in prison and an EGP 99 million fine in a retrial on charges of making illicit gains. His sons were acquitted in the same ruling. In May 2016, El-Sherif and one of his sons were given five-year prison terms and an EGP 209 million fine (approx. $11.7 million) on charges of corruption and illicit gains. His second son was sentenced in absentia to a 10-year prison term. In December 2016, the Court of Cassation accepted their appeal and ordered a retrial. El-Sherif also served as the head of Egypt's State Information body, the head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, information minister, and the speaker of Egypt's upper house of parliament, which was abolished in 2011 but re-instated in 2019 by a constitutional amendment. In 2012, a court acquitted El-Sherif and other high-level Mubarak associates of organising the so-called "Battle of the Camel," a deadly mob attack against anti-regime protesters during the uprising in 2011. Many Mubarak-era figures have pushed to reach settlements with the Egyptian government in corruption cases, including late business tycoon Hussein Salem in 2016 and steel mogul Ahmed Ezz in 2018.
