Egypt’s chief prosecutor on Tuesday decided to appeal against a criminal court’s sentence for a tycoon's son who killed a woman while driving under the influence of drugs.
A criminal court in the Red Sea province gave Haitham Abu Ali a suspended sentence in May for manslaughter, after a January 22 car accident on a Red Sea motorway in which he crashed into an Uber car carrying interior designer Mai Ishaq.
Ishaq died in the crash and the Uber driver suffered injuries.
Abu Ali will now face a new trial after prosecutors appealed against the 10-year suspended conviction and a fine of one million Egyptian pounds ($64,000) given to him in May.
Prosecutors said in January that Abu Ali, whose father Kamel is one of Egypt’s wealthiest businessmen and owns prominent resorts on the Red Sea coast, was speeding in the wrong direction on a motorway while under the influence of alcohol and hashish.
They said he showed a blatant disregard for the law. The billionaire’s son was also charged with possession of drugs for personal use.
The prosecution blamed the influence of drugs for the crash.
