Life imprisonment for former Egyptian President Mubarak, sons Gamal and Ala acquitted
Cairo (AsiaNews)
- An Egyptian court sentenced former President Mubarak and Habib al-Adly, the
Interior Minister to life imprisonment, for having ordered security forces to
shoot at demonstrators during the Tahrir protests of 2011. Both are
responsible for the deaths of 850 people. The
court acquitted the six assistants of the Ministry of Interior. The
former Rais was presented in court lying on a stretcher and in serious health
conditions. After
the session, he was escorted by helicopter to a prison in Cairo, where he will probably
serve his sentence.
After
disclosure of the judgment uproar broke out outside and inside the courtroom, set
up in a bunker from which the trial was
broadcast live. But
the cheers turned into a brawl when the Court of Appeals in Cairo decided to quash
corruption charges against Mubarak's sons Gamal and Alaa. The
charges date back to over ten years ago and are outside the Court's statute of
limitations. The two
sons risked up to three years in prison. For
the prosecutors, the trial was artfully manipulated by the judges still loyal
to the regime and they have announced an appeal.
Mubarak
is the first Arab leader to be tried by his own people, after the social unrest
that shook the countries of North Africa and Middle East between 2010 and 2011.
He resigned
after 14 days of protests attended by more than 1 million people in Tahrir
Square and hundreds of thousands in major cities of Egypt.
The
judgment against the former president arrives a few weeks from the first ballot
of the presidential elections after more than 30 years of autocratic rule. The
two candidates will be running for President on June 15 and 16 are Shafiq
Ahmed, former Prime Minister and supported by the army and the former regime,
and Mohammed Mursi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak's historic
enemy
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