Egyptian media tycoon Mohamed Al Amin, who was serving a three-year sentence for human trafficking and sexual misconduct, died of cancer at a Cairo hospital on Sunday. He was 62.
Al Amin was sentenced to prison in May but was transferred to a hospital because he was suffering from lung cancer.
His family told local news outlets that his condition steadily worsened as the cancer spread from his lungs to his bones, putting him “in the hands of God”.
Al Amin was one of the country’s most prominent media moguls, at one time owning and managing 14 television channels and three newspapers in addition to holding a significant interest in some of the country’s most widely read publications.
He also enjoyed close ties with prominent members of the Egyptian government after the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. He donated millions of pounds to the government’s Tahya Misr foundation, Egypt's largest welfare fund.
The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood filed a formal complaint against Al Amin last year, alleging that he had sexually assaulted multiple girls who lived in an orphanage he owned.
The allegations were corroborated by testimony from more than a dozen victims at the orphanage in Beni Suef province, 150 kilometres south of Cairo.
Al Amin was arrested in January and his trial began in March.
