An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced the former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, to life term for his complicity in the killing of protesters, following a 10-month trial that was riven with loopholes and marred by controversy.
Judge Ahmed Rifat said the prosecution could not muster any evidence to establish that Mr. Mubarak had directly ordered the killings of the protesters, 850 of whom died during the 18-day uprising last year.
Nevertheless, the judge held him responsible for the deaths because of his failure to intervene to stop the killings. Habib el-Adly, Interior Minister of the day under the deposed strongman, was also slapped with life sentence for the same reason.
As the verdict was announced, there was a spontaneous eruption of joy among the several families of the deceased who had assembled outside the courtroom.
But the mood swiftly darkened as news filtered out that Mr. Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, had been acquitted of major corruption charges. They would now stand trial on charges of manipulating the stock market that were levelled last week.
Tempers flew when the judge announced the acquittal of the six top police officers, who were in charge, when the killings took place.
Feeding the fury was the perception that Mr. Mubarak might be freed or awarded a lighter sentence by an appeals court.
His lawyers reinforced the view that their client was likely to be acquitted following an appeal. AFP quoted Yasser Bahr, a senior member of Mr. Mubarak's team as saying: “We will appeal. The ruling is full of legal flaws from every angle.”
Crowds pour into Tahrir Square
By afternoon, angry crowds, rejecting the verdict, poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square — ground zero of the uprising. A similar outpouring was reported from Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, and Suez.
Fears of a counter-revolution triggered by Saturday's verdict are likely to brighten the chances of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy, whose bid for the presidency is being challenged by the Mubarak-era Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq, in a June 16-17 runoff.
Keywords: Hosni Mubarak trial, Egypt politcs, Egypt unrest, human rights violation, Arab Spring, Middle East politics
The life- term sentence for Hosni Mubarak awarded by Egyptian Court has its own
implications. Catergorically , thus verdict should be held as victory for the law of the land , and that nobody , high or mighty ,can commit human right violations with impunity.
However the other side of this verdict can cast doubts over the upcoming run-off between Mr. Morsi(Muslim Brotherhod) and Mr. Shafiq , as the likely gainer is the former . Now Egypt has the challenge to restore normalcy after this verdict -it was closely followed by clash between pro and anti-Mubarak people- to re-emaphasise the fact that there is no alternative of democracy.
This judgment is a reminder to all those big and small time leaders
ruling over democracies and dictatorships that one day they would be
held accountable for their actions .Use of the state machinery to
orchestrate killings so as to suppress,dissent, freedom and rights of
the common man will not go unpunished ,justice will finally be served
one day.
Dictatorship has fallen. But in India, in the name of democracy, we are not able to punish the corrupt officials and politicians. The same politicians get elected or politician with same policy inherit and the same saga is repeating. Democracy is blurred by this and made it harder to fix it. Election itself is scamed. Every Indian wants to wake up to that day free of corruption. But will not have the guts to face the austerity measures required to fix this!!!
Egyptians know who is involved in violence and benefited by Mubarak's corruption and action.
India is boasting as the largest democracy on earth. Will India investigate and punish those collaborated with the Sri Lankan regime in committing human rights abuses and war crimes against the Tamils?
The former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison. He was found guilty of complicity in the killing of protesters during a popular uprising against his 30-year rule last year.
Mubarak who is 84 years old suffers from various diseases and he was wheeled into the courtroom where he received his sentence.
During the revolt against the dictatorial regime around 800 people lost their life. Judge Ahmed Refaat said that the 10-month trial had been a fair one.
The question is can a trial be really fair when a dictator is sued because of committing crimes against human rights?
I doubt strongly and cannot believe in any fairness but the fact is that for 30years Egyptians were ruled by a dictator and Egyptians never had a free media, an independent judiciary, independent trade unions or freedom of speech.
They were defence- and helpless exposed to a tyranny.
I remember the time when the revolution took place in Eastern Germany and East and West got united, people danced in the streets and kissed one another driven by joy and happiness.
Eastern Germany was governed by Erich Honecker from 1971 to 1989. The political authorities of Germany tried to sue him.
As the date set for Erich Honecker´s trial approached, in November 1992, there were almost daily reports of his impending end.
Many hoped that he would die before his trial. There was general relief when his trial was suspended because of his health and he was allowed to leave for Chile in 1993.
I mentioned that as an example how democracy works with an independent judiciary. Erich Honecker was terminally ill and it should go without saying that a ill person like Mubarak should not have been sentenced.
There is no doubt that he committed crimes against humanity but the judges should have considered his deteriorating health.
This would have been the way a constitutional state would have spoken.
A fitting fate to the person responsible for the struggle and pain that
the Egyptians faced for years.
what you sow, so you reap. a historical judgement, a lesson to learn for dictators like asad.
A strong signal for those in the Middle East, both the rulers and the
ruled. Something Syrians can learn from here.
he got the verdict which he deserved. it will be a strong message for those who practice dictatorship.
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