Mubarak sentenced to life in prison
Ousted Egyptian president found guilty for complicity in killings of protesters during 2011 uprising; interior minister also received life sentence. Sons acquitted of all charges along with six other defendants
Reuters
Hosni Mubarak, who governed Egypt for 30 years before a popular uprising toppled him last year, was sentenced to life in prison on Saturday for complicity in the killing of protesters during the January 2011 uprising. Mubarak was acquitted on all graft charges.
Former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli was also sentenced to life imprisonment. Mubarak’s two sons, Gamal and Alaa, along with the six other defendants, were acquitted of all charges.
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Immediately after Judge Ahmed Rifaat read the sentence, clashes errupted in the court room, the crowds chanting „False, False, False” and „The people demand the removal of the regime.”
Before the hearing began, Egyptian state television showed Mubarak arriving at the court on the outskirts of Cairo in a helicopter from the military-run hospital where he has been held in custody.
He was transferred to a white ambulance on a stretcher, wearing sunglasses. He had his arms behind his head. A sheet covered the lower half of his body.
Piles of bound court papers were stacked next to the judges’ bench, the television footage showed. Hundreds of police surrounded the court set up at the Police Academy on Cairo’s outskirts.
Protesters gathered outside holding up images of those killed in the uprising and calling for Mubarak’s execution. „Dear God, take Mubarak and those with him!” they chanted.
Mubarak arrives at court
Sources at the medical center where Mubarak is being held reported that the former Egyptian president said several hours before his verdict hearing: „What are they going to try me for? I ruled as president for 30 years. They are trying me for a villa in Sharem al Sheikh which I paid for.”
Judge Ahmed Rifaat (Photo: Reuters)
It is the first time an Arab leader ousted by his people has been placed before a regular court. Mubarak’s trial had Arabs glued to the television last year and sent a message to other autocrats battling rebellions what fate might await them.
„Mubarak’s trial has the potential to set a meaningful regional precedent for accountability for human rights abuses and for upholding international fair trial standards,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a report before the session.
But the ruling could not come at a more sensitive time for Egypt, right in the middle of a fraught presidential election that pits a figure from the Muslim Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak, against the deposed leader’s last prime minister.
Mubarak wheeled into courtroom (Photo: Reuters)
‘Living comfortably’
On Friday, news reports and a source said that Mubarak is living in a comfortable hospital where he is free to see relatives, walk in the garden and exercise.
Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan quoted a source who works at the hospital as saying that Mubarak was exercising and swimming as doctors and family attend to his needs at Cairo’s International Medical Center (IMC).
Mubarak occupies a large suite with adjacent rooms for visitors, a swimming pool and a gym outfitted with the latest exercise equipment, Al-Watan said in its report published on Tuesday. It said Mubarak had been visited by Arab leaders of Gulf countries of Kuwait, Oman and the UAE.
The account confirmed reports in other domestic newspapers in the past months that have shown Mubarak, who is formally under arrest, as far more healthy than he appears in the court room, where he lies on his back on a stretcher.
„Mubarak is in excellent health. The former president will likely remain with us even after the verdict comes out,” the hospital source, who has seen the former leader, told Reuters.
The source said Mubarak was free to walk around the garden or swim in a pool, and had a team of doctors including a physiotherapist. Mubarak also received visitors from the Arab world and the ruling military council.
„This is the best place for him. There is a plane and an airstrip at the hospital to allow for safe movement,” the source added.