Military funeral for former president Mubarak

Egypt held a military funeral on Wednesday for former president Hosni Mubarak, bestowing the state’s final rehabilitation on the man who ruled for 30 years until he was ousted in disgrace in a 2011 popular uprising.

Horses drew Mubarak’s coffin draped in the Egyptian flag at a mosque complex as canons fired a salute, followed by a procession led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as well as Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal. The funeral march was attended by key political figures from Mubarak’s years in power. Sisi stayed for the duration of the procession, offering condolences to Alaa, Gamal and Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, before his departure.

Mubarak died on Tuesday in intensive care weeks after an operation, leaving Egyptians divided on the legacy of his era, marked by stagnation and repression but recalled by some as more stable than the chaos that followed.

The stately funeral contrasted sharply with the rejoicing on the streets in 2011 when he was swept out of power as an early victim of the Arab Spring revolutions across the region.

Then he spent many years in jail and military hospitals before being freed in 2017 under Sisi, a fellow military officer risen to the presidency who has jailed Islamist and liberal opponents in the name of stability.

Egypt’s presidency and armed forces mourned the former air force officer as a hero for his role in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The presidency declared three days of national mourning.

Mubarak’s coffin was airlifted to the family burial compound from the funeral at Field Marshal Tantawi mosque — named for Mubarak’s defence minister of 20 years who presided over an abortive transition to democracy after Mubarak resigned.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt in 2011 but was freed in 2017 after being cleared of those charges.

He was also convicted in 2015 along with his two sons of diverting public funds to upgrade family properties.

They were sentenced to three years in jail.

Egyptian state and private newspapers ran front-page pictures of Mubarak, while state TV showed excerpts of previous speeches.

This was a stark contrast to the treatment of his successor, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, who lasted only a year in office before the army toppled him.

Morsi died in 2019 after collapsing in court while on trial on espionage charges. Egyptian media, which is tightly controlled, paid little attention to his death.