CAIRO - An Egyptian judge sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to life in prison on Saturday for complicity in the killing of unarmed demonstrators during the first six days of protests that ended his rule.
It was the second verdict against an Arab ruler brought before the law by a popular revolt, after the conviction in absentia last year of Tunisia’s former leader, and for many Egyptians it may be the greatest achievement of the uprising that began 16 months ago but has been stuttering ever since.
With the nation still awaiting the ratification of a new constitution, the election of a new president, and the handover of power by its military rulers, the decision is Egypt’s most significant step yet toward establishing the principle that no leader is above the law.
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But even that victory appeared tenuous. Lawyers critical of Mubarak warned that the verdict was vulnerable to appeal, with the judge stating clearly that the prosecutors had presented no evidence that Mubarak or his top aides had directly ordered the killing of protesters.
Instead, the judge, Ahmed Rifaat, found that Mubarak was an accessory to murder because he failed to stop the killing - which lawyers said would not meet the usual standards of proof for a murder conviction under Egyptian or international law.
Many said the verdict appeared contradictory because the judge had acquitted several lower-ranking security officials who would have been responsible for the police, raising questions about the chain of command.
The judge also dismissed corruption charges against Mubarak and his sons on technical grounds, and by late afternoon thousands of protesters angry at the limits of the decision were pouring into the streets in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, and elsewhere.
After the verdict, a few dozen Mubarak supporters and hundreds of his opponents clashed briefly with the thousands of riot police outside the trial.
Crowds of thousands gathered in Tahrir Square. Thousands more protested at the Supreme Court in Cairo, hurling rocks and breaking the building’s windows. Several losing presidential candidates and the Muslim Brotherhood all called for their supporters to take to the streets.
Against an opaque backdrop of military rule, in which the generals, prosecutors, and judges were appointed by Mubarak, demonstrators traded conspiracy theories, the most incendiary being that the ruling generals might have influenced the ruling, seeking to placate the street with a seemingly tough decision that would later collapse.
“It is all an act. It is a show,’’ said Alaa Hamam, 38, a Cairo University employee joining a protest in Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the uprising. “It is a provocation.’’
The ruling has already become a political battleground in Egypt’s first competitive presidential race, expected to be decided this month by a runoff between the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister. Mubarak, 84, was housed during the trial in a military hospital where he enjoyed visits from his family, according to news reports, and a daily swim. After the verdict, a helicopter flew him to a Cairo prison.
State news media reported that he had complained of a heart attack while in the helicopter. He was treated in the helicopter and for 2 1/2 hours refused to leave it, the state media said.
At the court, after a flowery tribute to the glory of the Egyptian uprising, the judge pronounced that “defendant Mohamed Hosni Mubarak be sentenced to a life term for the allegations ascribed to him, being an accessory to murder’’ in the killing of more than 240 demonstrators during the last six days of January 2011.
The judge sentenced Mubarak’s former interior minister, Habib el-Adly, to the same penalty. The dismissal of murder charges against a group of Adly’s aides and other security officials raised questions about which officials, if any, might be held more directly responsible.
As for the corruption charges, the judge ruled that a statute of limitations had expired since Mubarak and his sons, Alaa and Gamal, allegedly received a set of luxurious Red Sea vacation homes as a kickback from a Mubarak crony, Hussein Salem.
Mubarak showed no reaction to the verdict. Wearing dark glasses and a light-colored tracksuit, he lay on a hospital gurney in the metal cage that holds criminal defendants here.
Alaa Mubarak appeared to recite verses of the Koran as the verdict was read. Both sons stood in front of their father to try to shield him from the cameras, and after the ruling they had had tears in their eyes. They remain in jail while they face charges in an unrelated stock-manipulation case announced last week.
In issuing his decision, Rifaat said Mubarak’s rule was “30 years of intense darkness - black, black, black, the blackness of a chilly winter night.’’ He also said officials had “committed the gravest sins, tyranny and corruption without accountability or oversight as their consciences died, their feelings became numb and their hearts in their chests turned blind.
“The peaceful sons of the homeland came out of every deep ravine with all the pain they experienced from injustice, heartbreak, humiliation, and oppression,’’ he added. “Bearing the burden of their suffering on their shoulders, they moved peacefully toward Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, demanding only justice, freedom, and democracy.’’
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It was the second verdict against an Arab ruler brought before the law by a popular revolt, after the conviction in absentia last year of Tunisia’s former leader, and for many Egyptians it may be the greatest achievement of the uprising that began 16 months ago but has been stuttering ever since.
With the nation still awaiting the ratification of a new constitution, the election of a new president, and the handover of power by its military rulers, the decision is Egypt’s most significant step yet toward establishing the principle that no leader is above the law.
Continue reading below
But even that victory appeared tenuous. Lawyers critical of Mubarak warned that the verdict was vulnerable to appeal, with the judge stating clearly that the prosecutors had presented no evidence that Mubarak or his top aides had directly ordered the killing of protesters.
Instead, the judge, Ahmed Rifaat, found that Mubarak was an accessory to murder because he failed to stop the killing - which lawyers said would not meet the usual standards of proof for a murder conviction under Egyptian or international law.
Many said the verdict appeared contradictory because the judge had acquitted several lower-ranking security officials who would have been responsible for the police, raising questions about the chain of command.
The judge also dismissed corruption charges against Mubarak and his sons on technical grounds, and by late afternoon thousands of protesters angry at the limits of the decision were pouring into the streets in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, and elsewhere.
After the verdict, a few dozen Mubarak supporters and hundreds of his opponents clashed briefly with the thousands of riot police outside the trial.
Crowds of thousands gathered in Tahrir Square. Thousands more protested at the Supreme Court in Cairo, hurling rocks and breaking the building’s windows. Several losing presidential candidates and the Muslim Brotherhood all called for their supporters to take to the streets.
Against an opaque backdrop of military rule, in which the generals, prosecutors, and judges were appointed by Mubarak, demonstrators traded conspiracy theories, the most incendiary being that the ruling generals might have influenced the ruling, seeking to placate the street with a seemingly tough decision that would later collapse.
“It is all an act. It is a show,’’ said Alaa Hamam, 38, a Cairo University employee joining a protest in Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the uprising. “It is a provocation.’’
The ruling has already become a political battleground in Egypt’s first competitive presidential race, expected to be decided this month by a runoff between the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister. Mubarak, 84, was housed during the trial in a military hospital where he enjoyed visits from his family, according to news reports, and a daily swim. After the verdict, a helicopter flew him to a Cairo prison.
State news media reported that he had complained of a heart attack while in the helicopter. He was treated in the helicopter and for 2 1/2 hours refused to leave it, the state media said.
At the court, after a flowery tribute to the glory of the Egyptian uprising, the judge pronounced that “defendant Mohamed Hosni Mubarak be sentenced to a life term for the allegations ascribed to him, being an accessory to murder’’ in the killing of more than 240 demonstrators during the last six days of January 2011.
The judge sentenced Mubarak’s former interior minister, Habib el-Adly, to the same penalty. The dismissal of murder charges against a group of Adly’s aides and other security officials raised questions about which officials, if any, might be held more directly responsible.
As for the corruption charges, the judge ruled that a statute of limitations had expired since Mubarak and his sons, Alaa and Gamal, allegedly received a set of luxurious Red Sea vacation homes as a kickback from a Mubarak crony, Hussein Salem.
Mubarak showed no reaction to the verdict. Wearing dark glasses and a light-colored tracksuit, he lay on a hospital gurney in the metal cage that holds criminal defendants here.
Alaa Mubarak appeared to recite verses of the Koran as the verdict was read. Both sons stood in front of their father to try to shield him from the cameras, and after the ruling they had had tears in their eyes. They remain in jail while they face charges in an unrelated stock-manipulation case announced last week.
In issuing his decision, Rifaat said Mubarak’s rule was “30 years of intense darkness - black, black, black, the blackness of a chilly winter night.’’ He also said officials had “committed the gravest sins, tyranny and corruption without accountability or oversight as their consciences died, their feelings became numb and their hearts in their chests turned blind.
“The peaceful sons of the homeland came out of every deep ravine with all the pain they experienced from injustice, heartbreak, humiliation, and oppression,’’ he added. “Bearing the burden of their suffering on their shoulders, they moved peacefully toward Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, demanding only justice, freedom, and democracy.’’
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