CAIRO: An Egyptian criminal court in Cairo sentenced Mohamed Ahdi Fadel, the former head of the state-run newspaper al-Akhbar and Hani Kamel, the former head of the advertisement department at the same paper to five years in jail over financial corruption charges. The two were accused by the general prosecutor of embezzling 21 million pounds ($3.5 million) while in their positions. State run newspapers, al-Ahram, al-Akhbar, al-Gomhoriya are mouth pieces of the state and their heads have been appointed by the president himself for over three decades. They were an examples of widespread financial corruption and cronyism in Egypt before the revolution. The two convicts used the the newspaper's money to enrich themselves and earned millions of pounds of public money.