Safwat El-Sherif, 88, minister of information under late President Hosni Mubarak, has died after a long struggle with illness, according to local reports.

Recent reports claimed that El-Sherif, also former speaker of Al-Shura Council, contracted coronavirus. TV Presenter Mohamed El-Baz said earlier in January that El-Sherif's health condition is critical due to his infection with the novel virus. El-Sherif denied the new at the time..

El-Sherif also served as chairman of the State Information Service, head of the Supreme Press Council and secretary-general of the dissolved National Democratic Party.

Since Mubarak was ousted in 2011, El-Sherif had been tried over many corruption charges.

In September 2020, the Cassation Court upheld a ruling of three-year imprisonment sentence against him on illicit gains charges. The rulings of the Cassation Court cannot be appealed as they are final.