英语文摘:Egypt's ex-president's aide sentenced to 7 years in jail

CAIRO, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Cairo Criminal Court sentenced on Sunday chief of presidential staff Zakaria Azmi for ex-president Hosni Mubarak to seven years in prison on corruption charges.

The court also fined Azmi over 36 million Egyptian pounds ( about 6 million U.S. dollars). His brother-in-law Gamal Abdel- Moneim Halawa was sentenced in absentia to one year in jail, official MENA news agency reported.

With his wife and brother-in-law, Azmi was accused of making illicit gains amounting to 42.6 million Egyptian pounds (about 7.1 million U.S. dollars), via power abuse.

Azmi was the chief of presidential cabinet from 1989 until 2011.

Mubarak faces charges of ordering to kill the protestors and corruption. A final verdict will be announced on June 2.