Egyptian media tycoon with close links to the government was on Monday sentenced by an Egyptian court to three years in jail for his involvement in human trafficking and the indecent assault of seven underage girls at an orphanage he founded.
The public prosecutor said that Mohamed El-Amin had exploited his authority and the girls’ vulnerability.
El Amin was arrested in January following an investigation into a report filed by the country’s National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. His first trial was in March.
Investigators discovered that many of the girls living in El Amin’s orphanage had been assaulted by him during his regular visits to the home, which is located in his home province of Beni Suef, 150 kilometres south of Cairo.
Court documents showed he frequently took groups of girls from the orphanage to his summer home in Egypt’s North Coast, where he would also assault them.
El Amin would demand that the girls dress in a certain way or speak in a certain way, a recording of one of the girls describing the abuse, which was leaked by a Facebook page called Atfal Mafqooda (Lost Children) revealed.
He reportedly threatened to throw the girls out on the street if they did not comply with his wishes or if they told anyone about what was happening.
His actions led to the development of depression, insomnia and suicidal thoughts among several of the girls, police reports showed.
El-Amin has denied the charges and will be able to appeal against the sentence.
