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Egypt’s Ex-President Hosni Mubarak Sentenced to Life in Prison

Egypt Ex President Hosni Mubarak Sentenced to Life in Prison for Role in Killing Protesters

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak heard the verdict while seated in a cage in the courtroom with other defendants. (Image source: Reuters)

CAIRO (AP) — Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power last year. The ousted president and his sons were acquitted, however, of corruption charges in a mixed verdict that swiftly provoked a new wave of anger on Egypt’s streets.

Revolutionary groups and the powerful Muslim Brotherhood have called for a massive protest at Tahrir Square, the heart of the uprising, at 5 p.m. local time.

After the sentencing, the 84-year old Mubarak suffered a “health crisis” while on a helicopter flight to a Cairo prison hospital, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. One state media report said it was a heart attack, but that could not immediately be confirmed.

The officials said Mubarak cried in protest and resisted leaving the helicopter that took him to a prison hospital for the first time since he was detained in April 2011. Mubarak stayed at a regular hospital in his favorite Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from his arrest until his trial began in on Aug. 3. The officials said he insisted on the helicopter that he be flown to the military hospital on the eastern outskirts of Cairo where he has stayed during the trial.

Mubarak finally left the chopper and moved to the Torah prison hospital more than two hours after his helicopter landed there.

Earlier, Mubarak sat stone-faced and frowning in the courtroom‘s metal defendants’ cage while judge Ahmed Rifaat read out the conviction and sentence against him, showing no emotion with his eyes concealed by dark sunglasses. His sons Gamal and Alaa looked nervous but also did not react to either the conviction of their father or their own acquittals.

Mubarak was convicted of complicity in the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to resign in February 2011. He and his two sons were acquitted of corruption charges, along with a family friend who is on the run.

Rifaat opened the session with a strongly worded statement before handing down the verdicts. He expressed deep sympathy for the uprising.

“The people released a collective sigh of relief after a nightmare that did not, as is customary, last for a night, but for almost 30 black, black, black years – darkness that resembled a winter night.

“The revolution by the people of Egypt was inspired by God. They did not seek a luxurious life or to sit atop the world, but asked their politicians, rulers and those in authority to give them a decent life and a bite to eat,” he said. “They peacefully demanded democracy from rulers who held a tight grip on power.”

One of the uprising’s key pro-democracy groups, April 6, rejected the verdict, saying Rifaat at once paid homage to the protesters and ignored the grief of the families of those killed by acquitting the top police commanders.

“We will continue to cleanse Egypt from corruption,” the group said.

“Justice was not served,” said Ramadan Ahmed, whose son was killed on Jan. 28 last year. “This is a sham,” he said outside the courthouse, a lecture hall in a police academy that once bore Mubarak’s name.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch called the verdict a “landmark conviction” but criticized the prosecution for failing to fully investigate the case.

“It sends a powerful message to Egypt’s future leaders that they are not above the law,” HRW said. “These convictions set an important precedent since just over a year ago, seeing Mubarak as a defendant in a criminal court would have been unthinkable,” said Joe Stork, the group’s spokesman.

Angered by the acquittals of the Mubarak sons and six top police officers, lawyers for the victims’ families broke out chanting inside the courtroom as soon as Rifaat finished reading the verdict.

“The people want to cleanse the judiciary,” they chanted. Some raised banners that read: “God’s verdict is execution.”

The charges related to killing protesters carried a possible death sentence that the judge chose not to impose, opting instead to send Mubarak to prison for the rest of his life.

Rifaat criticized the prosecution’s case, saying it lacked concrete and material evidence and that there was nothing in what has been presented to the court that proved that the protesters were killed by the police. Because those who pulled the trigger have not been arrested, he added, he could not convict any of the top police officers of complicity in the killing of the protesters.

The prosecution had complained during the trial that it did not receive any help from the Interior Ministry in its preparation for the case and, in some cases, prosecutors were met with obstruction.

Outside the courtroom on the outskirts of the capital, there was jubilation initially when the conviction was announced, with one man falling to his knees and prostrating himself in prayer on the pavement and others dancing, pumping fists in the air and shooting off fireworks.

But that scene soon descended into tensions and scuffles, as thousands of riot police in helmets and shields held the restive, mostly anti-Mubarak crowd back behind a cordon protecting the court.

Later, thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising, and in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Egypt’s northern coast. They chanted slogans denouncing the trial as “theatrical” and against the ruling generals who took over for Mubarak, led by his former defense minister. “Execute them, execute them!” chanted the protesters in Alexandria.

Mubarak and his former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, who was in charge of the police and other security forces at the time of the uprising, were convicted of failing to act to stop the killings during the opening days of the revolt, when the bulk of protesters died. El-Adly also received a life sentence.

Most of the dead were either shot or run over by police vehicles in Cairo and a string of major cities across the country.

Mubarak and his sons – one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa – were acquitted on corruption charges, with the judge citing a 10-year statute of limitations that had lapsed since the alleged crimes were committed.

Just days before the verdict was made public, the state prosecutor leveled new charges of insider trading against the two sons. It now appears that these charges may have been an attempt to head off new public outrage once the acquittals of the Mubarak sons were made public.

It has appeared all along that prosecutions since Mubarak‘s fall targeting relatively few high level officials and their cronies have been motivated largely by a desire to appease public anger expressed in massive street protests that continued long after Mubarak’s ouster.

Scores of policemen charged with killing protesters have either been acquitted or received light sentences, angering relatives of the victims and the pro-democracy youth groups behind the uprising.

Rock-throwing and fist fights outside the courtroom left at least 20 people injured, and a police official said that four people were arrested.

Thousands of riot police and policemen riding horses had cordoned off the building to prevent protesters and relatives of those slain during the uprising from getting too close. Hundreds stood outside, waving Egyptian flags and chanting slogans demanding “retribution.” Some spread Mubarak’s picture on the asphalt and walked over it.

Mubarak’s verdict came just days after presidential elections have been boiled down to a June 16-17 contest between Mubarak’s last prime minister, one-time protege Ahmed Shafiq, and Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Islamist group that Mubarak persecuted for most of his years in power.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Shafiq said he could not comment on court rulings, but added that the Mubarak trial has shown that no one was above the law in today’s Egypt and that no one could recreate the old regime.

The acquittal of the six police officers, he added, did not mean that he approved of their “tactics.”

In contrast, a spokesman for Morsi said the verdicts were “shocking” and vowed retribution.

“The blood of our martyrs will not go in vain. We will work as Egyptians for the sake of a just retribution and the retrial of those who committed crimes against this nation,” said the spokesman, Ahmed Abdel-Atti.

Morsi and Shafiq will go on a head-to-head presidential runoff on June 16-17.

Comments (31)

  • Constantine Ivanov
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 1:40pm

    And who benefited by/from/of removal of Mubarak? Seemingly, only our Disaster-in-Chief’s favorites: rabid Muslims if the Muslims Brotherhood…

    Report Post » Constantine Ivanov  
    • lukerw
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 2:46pm

      Radicals… alike Obama & Hillary do not function upon the thought of Benefit… but upon an Ideology that supports Revolution!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • jzs
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 12:57am

      Historically the US has supported brutal, murderous dictators of Muslim countries such as as Saddam Hussein, the Shah of Iran and Mubarak. But that hasn’t worked out too well for us or them.

      I have an idea. Let’s not as a country support unpopular dictators, ones who rule with absolute power and crush dissent my murdering their people. Government that, no matter how many guns we give them are sure to be overthrown sooner or later. Instead why not support and provide aid to government that have popular support?

      Blazers in general have this idea that all Muslim countries should be kept in control by a single dictator under US control. A dictator we send caviar to a a couple of million buck to support his military. A dictator willing to suppress the population and kill dissenters, whatever it takes to keep himself in power.

      We‘ve been doing that for years though and it doesn’t work in the long run. Let’s try something else.

      Report Post » jzs  
  • Azalea
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 12:59pm

    At the same time that all this upset is going on, we are hearing the government union tour guides to the Pyramids, etc., complaining about tourism dropping so low, they can’t make money. And, they say that it’s “not as bad” as TV says, yet they can’t figure out why tourists have run away – especially American tourists. Isn’t it something like 7% of the entire GDP that depends on tourism? And, they wonder why? Are they that clueless?

    Report Post » Azalea  
  • Magyar
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 12:47pm

    One tyrant down–next…. the one in the WHITE HOUSE!

    Report Post »  
    • db321
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 12:56pm

      He has not been judged yet – wait until he stands before the Throne of God and account for every word and deed he has done in his life. It is appointed unto man, to once die and then the judgement! Yes, even Hitler, Mao, Qaddafi, Mohammed, Saddam and any other two bit dictator that thinks they are God!

      Report Post » db321  
  • loveoursoldiers
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 12:34pm

    Seems to me bigboo thinks he will be king after he assists the MB takeover of the Middle East…. but I think they are using him.. letting him think he will be king.. .. tbc

    Report Post » loveoursoldiers  
  • Amazingoly
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 12:17pm

    Wondering if this could ever happen in the U.S.? Just wondering.

    Report Post »  
    • db321
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 1:07pm

      God would have to turn his back on the Us in order for that to happen. Let’s see what the Bible says, God Warned, “What you do to Israel God will Do to You”

      On every Border of Israel, there are groups ready to invade Israel – we have a President that will turn his back on Israel and everyone knows it. I’m just glad the US does not have that problem – Our Borders are safe!

      So to answer your question as an extremely naive person – I would say “NO” cant happen here! As a God Fearing person – I would say – it is going to happen and the people that vote for Obama are not going to like what he will become and what he will do to those that can work but won’t.

      Look at any other dictator – they never lift a hand to help people that are mooching off the Govt – they only use them to get into power. Once they are in – they don’t need them!

      Report Post » db321  
  • AUsername
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 11:34am

    Send Bush Obama and the Bilderbergs in with him.

    Report Post » AUsername  
  • Remembering Ruby Ridge
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:51am

    Barak Obama needs a cell right next to him along with his wife and most of the US politicians and media!

    Report Post »  
  • flipper1073
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:25am

    Egypt is sending their Corrupt Capitalist President
    to Prison for Life.

    Meanwhile here in America we may (hopefully NOT) Re- Elect our
    Corrupt Totalitarian Communist President for a second Term.

    Have We entered the Twilight Zone or What

    Report Post » flipper1073  
    • crazyrightwingmom
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 11:18am

      And we can oust our president quietly and within the law, unlike in Egypt. However, I believe Pres. O. would like some unrest that he could “quell,” and stay in power longer.

      Report Post »  
    • idarusskie
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 6:29pm

      life for a sick 84 year old? what is that two weeks? 6 months? For killing 900.

      Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:13am

    But Mr.Clapper said the MB is a largely secular group that eschews violence,we all know he‘s a moron for making that remark but Mubarak and the people of Egypt will find out real soon just how much the MB ’eschews violence’.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • jackact
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:08am

    Only an uniformed reader would consider this a positive action.
    So what, another American planted middle eastern ‘leader’ is jailed.
    Do you suppose the people of Egypt, and the greater Western world, are now safer with the Muslim Brotherhood in charge?
    Wake up America!
    Do you even know what a caliphate is?

    Report Post »  
    • lovenfl3
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:21am

      Couldn’t agree more. The judge claims 30 years of darkness under Mubarak. Granted, he may not have been the nicest guy in the world, but what do these people think the next guy is going to be like? Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for…because you just might get it.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5kwKTxxEy4

      Report Post » lovenfl3  
    • crazyrightwingmom
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 11:19am

      So true! The Muslim Br. is going to make things worse….just like in Iran years ago, with the “terrible” Shah!

      Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:06am

    Hosni’s getting hosed by our gay president Barry twinkle toes Sotero. Mubarak should have exterminated the MB years ago,he would have done himself and more importantly us a favor.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • rickc34
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:57am

    This haapened to eygpt and lybia so Biblical prophecy can be fulfilled. They will be part of the confederation along with russia , iran and syria to make war with Israel. Get ready Christ is coming for the Church. And yes Obama threw Mubarack under the bus.

    Report Post »  
  • tommyg524
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:50am

    elitism needs to be smashed , in ALL its forms.

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:07am

    I hope when the treason trials of the current administration are done, the pictures released are of them on the way to jail for the rest of their natural lives and a day. Make it into a collectable album called “Treason: Obama and the Progressive way and how WE the PEOPLE won!!!”

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • TWO BITS
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 8:56am

    Speculation about Mubarak’s health and possible successor was thought to be connected to the timing of the Egyptian uprising, so his sentence may be short. The choice of undesirable candidates, damage to the tourism industry, and poverty may leave many Egyptians free to starve.

    Report Post » TWO BITS  
    • rickc34
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:01am

      They prospered when they had peace with Israel but things will change as they turn against Israel. Just watch.

      Report Post »  
  • flipper1073
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 8:46am

    Can we start a Trend here
    Ex- Presidents Get Life in Prison.
    also Attorney Generals

    Report Post » flipper1073  
    • tommyg524
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:49am

      you forgot to include all lobbyists and lawyers.

      Report Post »  
    • flipper1073
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:09am

      Ok if you’re going to start that
      You will pretty much empty out
      Washington DC.
      We’re going to need to build more Prisons.
      “Shovel Ready Jobs”

      Report Post » flipper1073  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 7:27am

    I’m sure the Muslim Brotherhood will be far more tolerant of opposition. Another friend of the U.S. left to rot in prison. Good luck finding any help in the middle east Barry.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • subic
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:27am

      soetoro/obama & Billery are idiots for letting Egypt fall to the ****** bruthas.. May this be the portriat of barry in 2013 & also life in prison for that cocky usurping son of a b*t*h

      Report Post » subic  
    • Chromo200
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 2:12pm

      Excellent point Gonzo. You want to see what is going to happen to Egypt look at Iran, Tunisia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Even Russia has started to revert back to the old days … Czar Putin.

      Freedom will be doled out by a few to a few.

      Report Post »  
  • RepubliCorp
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 7:24am

    Now it is our turn!

    Report Post » RepubliCorp  

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