CAIRO: A Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced the former information minister to seven years behind bars and the former head of state TV to five years on corruption charges. Judge Abdallah Abul Hashem ordered ex-information minister Anas Al-Fiqi jailed for seven years "for squandering public money." Osama El-Sheikh, head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, was sentenced to five years on similar charges in a case involving the purchase of soap operas at inflated prices. Chaos broke out in the court when the verdict for El-Sheikh was read, with his supporters lunging past security towards the judge as others threw bottles at him. Judge Abul Hashem had to be whisked away by security. El-Sheikh had been cleared in a previous corruption case and his family and supporters had expected him to be released. The two are the latest in a string of former regime officials to go on trial since a popular revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February. Mubarak himself is on trial for allegedly ordering the killings of anti-regime protesters and for alleged corruption. His two sons are also on trial for alleged corruption.
