[JURIST] An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif [BBC backgrounder] to five years in prison on during a retrial graft charges. Nazif served during the presidency of Hosni Mubarak [BBC profile] until the start of the Egyptian Uprising [Aljazeera timeline] in 2011, and was convicted of using his position to make illicit gains in excess of 64 million Egyptian pounds, or approximately $8.2 million. He was also accused of accepting gifts from members of the national press. In addition to being sentenced [Daily News Egypt report] to five years, he was also ordered to pay a fine of 53 million Egyptian pounds ($6.8 million) and return 48 million Egyptian pounds ($6.2 million) that were stolen. Nazif was arrested and charged [JURIST report] in 2011 around the time that Mubarak was overthrown, and was kept in custody until 2013. He has since been tried from outside court.

Nazif was one of many government officers who served under former president Mubarak to have faced corruption charges since the Egyptian Revolution led to his ousting. In February the Cairo Criminal Court acquitted [JURIST report] Nazif and former minister of interior Habib el-Adly of all charges against them. Both defendants were charged with “squandering public funds and profiteering” after allegedly making an illegal deal with German Company UTSCH to sell license plates for higher than market value. Last June an Egyptian court acquitted [JURIST report] el-Adly of charges that he ordered police officials to find prospective top-paying buyers for land he personally owned. In February 2013 a court upheld [JURIST report] a three-year sentence for el-Adly for taking advantage of his political position and forcing police recruits to work on his private property. In February 2012 prosecutors argued [JURIST report] that el-Adly be put to death along with Mubarak for the 2011 protester killings.