Dictator goes free, sparks nostalgia for stable Egypt

IN six years, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak has gone from symbolising the hubris of Middle East dictators swept away by the Arab Spring uprisings to an emblem of dashed hopes.

The strongman who ruled for 30 years had warned that if it were not for him chaos would grip Egypt.

To the dismay of protesters who put their faith in the revolution, Mubarak left a military hospital on Friday a free man.

He had been detained since he was toppled in 2011, and emerged to his new freedom in a country where many now remember his stable rule with nostalgia.

Mubarak had remained defiant, sneering at the movement that in a mere 18 days in January and February 2011 shook the foundations of the police state he had shaped over three decades.

Months after he was forced from power, he was put on trial for his role in trying to suppress the protests that led to his overthrow, and in which some 850 people were killed.

Wheeled in to court on a gurney, wearing his trademark sunglasses and looking disgusted, Mubarak denied the charges. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

“When I heard the first verdict I laughed. I said: ‘Ha!’ ” he told a private broadcaster after the sentencing. “I did nothing wrong at all.”

Apparently referring to economic growth, he said: “The last 10 years showed more results than the 20 years before, including phones and so on, and then they turned against us.”

At a retrial, the court decided to drop all the main charges against Mubarak on a technicality. He beat other cases too, but was sentenced to three years for corruption, which took into account time served.

This month, after a final acquittal in the protester-killings case, the prosecution said the 88-year-old was free to go.

A few demonstrators who supported Mubarak would show up at his trials. Their slogan was “We are sorry, president”.

Many laughed at them. But over the years the sentiment grew as Egypt tottered from one disaster to another while Islamists who had come to power became involved in a power struggle with the military.

The Islamists Mubarak had warned about, in the form of his successor Mohamed Morsi, greatly divided the country.

Millions took to the streets in June 2013 demanding the Muslim Brotherhood politician’s resignation just a year after his election, prompting the army to oust and detain him.

Police killed hundreds of Morsi’s supporters in clashes at protests while jihadists launched an insurgency that has since killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

Many Egyptians began to yearn for the Mubarak era, while activists who spearheaded his overthrow found themselves in jail.

Mubarak was the fourth president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, founded in 1952 when the military overthrew the monarchy.

He was not an inspirational revolutionary, like Gamal Abdel Nasser (who had succeeded the first president, Mohammed Naguib), nor a charismatic and daring politician, like Anwar Sadat, whom he served as vicepresident.

A bland politician, he picked up where Sadat had left off.

He maintained a peace treaty with Israel — the reason Sadat was assassinated — and became a main player in the US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

But under him, Egypt faded as a regional power. — AFP FRIDAY FREEDOM: Hosni Mubarak when he was on trial, behind bars