Mubarak acquitted of protester killings
In January 2016, appeals court upheld a threeyear prison sentence for the ex-president
Appeals court clears former president of involvement in the deaths of demonstrators during 2011 revolt, ending the final trial for the leader who ruled for 30 years |
Egypt’s top appeals court yesterday acquitted Hosni Mubarak of involvement in the killing of protesters during a 2011 revolt, ending the final trial for the strongman who ruled for 30 years.
Mubarak had been sentenced to life in 2012, but an appeals court ordered a retrial which dismissed the charges two years later.
Yesterday’s ruling by Court of Cassation is final.
The trial was Mubarak’s last, after prosecutors levelled various the charges against him following his February 2011 resignation. He was accused of inciting the deaths of protesters during the 18-day revolt, in which about 850 people were killed as police clashed with demonstrators.
Mubarak, 88, has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011.
In January 2016, the appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons on corruption charges. But the sentence took into account time served. Both his sons, Ala’a and Jamal, were freed.
Six years after his overthrow, most of the charges brought against his regime members have been dismissed while the country still recovers from the aftermath of the uprising.
The revolt had ushered in years of instability that drove away tourists and investors, decimating the economy.
Mubarak’s Islamist successor, Mohammad Mursi, served for only a year before the military ousted and detained him in 2013, launching a deadly crackdown on his supporters.
Mursi and hundreds of Islamists have been sentenced in mass trials, although many of them are appealing the verdicts.
A former air force chief and vice-president, Mubarak became president after jihadists who had infiltrated the army shot dead president Anwar Sadat during a military parade in 1981, also wounding Mubarak.
He remained defiant throughout his trial.