A court on Wednesday sentenced an Egyptian television presenter to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of killing his wife during a domestic quarrel in July. The court said it found Ehab Salah, a news anchor for Egyptian state television, guilty of murdering his wife, Magda Hassan, while high on drugs. Salah shot his wife with a handgun after she had slapped him in the face for admitting to an ongoing affair with another woman. The Public Prosecutor had asked the court for the maximum penalty to be leveled against the defendant, which is death by hanging for first degree murder and possession of illegal narcotics. The defense team had argued that the crime was committed in self-defense, and requested that initial confessions made by Salah be thrown out by the court since he had been under the influence of drugs. While the court said it found the defendant "guilty beyond doubt," it nevertheless reduced his sentence from execution by hanging to 15 years in jail. The court also referred a claim for compensation filed by the victim's family to a civil court.
