An Egyptian criminal court sentenced on Sunday a former university student to eight years in prison on charges of sexually assaulting and blackmailing three girls.

According to the ruling, between 2016 and 2020, Ahmed Bassam Zaki sexually assaulted three girls in his car, at his house and at the house of one of the victims.

The verdict can be appealed.

Zaki, a 21-year-old student, was arrested in July after the Public Prosecution received a complaint from a woman against him.

In the complaint, first received by the National Council of Women (NCW), the woman accused Zaki of blackmailing her in November 2016 in an attempt to force her to have sex with him.

Egypt’s prosecution opened an investigation after the accusations, also raised by other women and girls against Zaki, went viral on social media in July.  

Zaki was already sentenced to three years in prison by a Cairo Criminal Court in December 2020 over sexually assaulting minors, blackmailing them, and using means of communication and social media to deliberately harass them.