Former Mubarak interior minister Habib al Adly sentenced to 12 years

CAIRO // A court sentenced the once-feared Egyptian interior minister Habib al Adly to 12 years for corruption yesterday in the first trial of an official from the regime of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Al Adly, who ran Mr Mubarak's security services for more than a decade before the strongman's overthrow in February in the face of 18 days of mass protests, was convicted of money-laundering and illicitly enriching himself while in office.

He had pleaded not guilty to both charges. The charges stemmed from the sale of land Adly owned after he tasked police officials with finding a buyer who would pay the highest possible price.

He faces a second trial on charges of ordering police to shoot protesters, and a third alongside the former prime minister and finance minister over a deal with a German firm to supply Egypt with licence plates at allegedly inflated prices.

Al Adly, once one of Mr Mubarak's closest aides who managed to stay in the precarious post despite a series of militant attacks under his watch, was ushered into a black cage in the courthouse for the brief sentencing.

Riot police and soldiers surrounded the courthouse on the outskirts of Cairo and two commandos were stationed in the small courtroom that was packed with journalists and police.

Judge Al Mohamadi al Qunsuwa, himself flanked by bodyguards, entered and asked whether Adly was present.

The former interior minister, dressed in white prison garb, replied in the affirmative and Mr Qunsuwa read the sentence.

"The court has ruled that Mohammed Habib al Adly will be punished with seven years in prison for profiteering," the judge said. On the second charge of money-laundering, he sentenced Adly to five years.

The former minister was also fined roughly 15 million Egyptian pounds (Dh9.18m).

Mr Mubarak is under investigation on suspicion of involvement in the killings of anti-regime protesters, and may face the death penalty along with Adly if convicted, according to the country's justice minister.

Adly was despised for the abuses committed by his security agents. Human rights groups say that when he was in office, torture was routine and even banal in Egypt.

Police officers were seldom tried for abuses. When convicted, they received relatively light sentences.

Police installations were a particular target for demonstrators during the first days of the protests that toppled Mr Mubarak, forcing police to withdraw from the streets as the military moved in on January 28 to try to restore calm.

Adly's next court appearance on the charges of ordering police to open fire on protesters will be on May 21.

His six co-defendants in the trial were some of interior ministry's most powerful commanders during the Mubarak regime, including the former head of the now dissolved State Security apparatus, Hassan Abdel Rahman.

An official inquiry into deaths during the revolt found that at least 846 civilians and 26 police officers were killed.

Most of the civilians were shot in the head and chest, indicating the use of snipers, according the inquiry's findings.

Much of the former regime's leadership, including Mr Mubarak's two sons Gamal and Alaa, are behind bars, most of them on suspicion or charges of corruption.

MR Mubarak himself is detained in a hospital room in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheikh, reportedly after suffering a heart attack while being questioned.