Court acquits Mubarak sons
CAIRO, Feb 22, (AP): An Egyptian court on Saturday acquitted the two sons of ousted President Hosni Mubarak on charges of stock market manipulation, the latest in a series of trials of Mubarak’s family since the 2011 uprising that toppled the longtime autocrat after nearly three decades in power.
The trial centered on the purchase by Mubarak’s sons – wealthy businessman Alaa and Mubarak’s one-time heir apparent Gamal – of a large number of shares in a local Egyptian bank. They allegedly knew the bank was to become the target of a takeover by a Gulf Arab investor, a move that was virtually certain to drive up share prices dramatically.
The Cairo Criminal Court also acquitted six others on the same charges, while a seventh defendant has died. Saturday’s verdict can be appealed before a higher court.
One of the acquitted men is investment banker Hassan Heikal, son of Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, a confidant of Egypt’s late nationalist leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser and the author of a series of books giving insider accounts of Egypt’s wars and peacemaking with Israel. Heikal, the father, died in 2016.
The trial was one of series of court proceedings against Mubarak and his family in recent years. The three were first detained in April 2011, two months after the popular uprising forced Mubarak to step down as part of the so-called Arab Spring. Following a lengthy trial, Mubarak was acquitted of killing protesters during the 18-day uprising against his autocratic rule.