MUBARAK SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS FOR GRAFT

Cairo, 22 Rajab 1435/21 May 2014 (MINA) – An Egyptian court Wednesday sentenced deposed president Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison on corruption charges, in one of two trials after the 2011 revolution that ended his rule.

His sons Alaa and Gamal each received four-year jail terms, and four other defendants were acquitted. Maan quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

They were charged of embezzling more than one hundred million Egyptian pounds (about $14 million) earmarked for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

Mubarak, 86, wearing a grey suit, sat on a wheelchair in the caged dock for the verdict. His sons, in white prison issue clothing, stood beside him.

Mubarak had technically been a free man after a court ordered his release last year following the end of the permitted detention period, but has since remained out of sight in a military hospital.

He is now likely to be returned to prison.

Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (born 4 May 1928) is a former Egyptian President, leader and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.

Mubarak was appointed Vice President of Egypt in 1975 and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. His almost thirty-year presidency made him Egypt’s longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled the country from 1805 to 1848. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rising to the rank of air chief marshal.

Mubarak stepped down after 18 days of demonstrations during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. On 11 February 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned as president and transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

On 13 April, a prosecutor ordered Mubarak and both of his sons to be detained for 15 days of questioning about allegations of corruption and abuse of power. He was then ordered to stand trial on charges of negligence for not giving orders to stop the killing of peaceful protestors during the revolution. These trials officially began on 3 August 2011. Additionally, primarily by initiative from former Egyptian president Sadat’s daughter, Roqaya Al-Sadat, Egypt’s military prosecutors then also proclaimed that they were investigating Mubarak’s role in Sadat’s assassination.

On 2 June 2012, Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Egyptian court. After sentencing, he was reported to have suffered a series of health crises. On 13 January 2013, an appeals court overturned Mubarak’s sentence and ordered a retrial.

On 20 August 2013, an Egyptian court ordered Mubarak’s release, because there are no more legal grounds for his detention. A day later, interim prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi ordered that Mubarak be put under house arrest.(T/Fauziah/P03/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)