Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader who for nearly 30 years was the resolute face of stability in the Middle East, died on Tuesday, the country’s state television said, ending his days after a swift and ignominious tumble from power in the Arab world’s pro-democracy upheaval. He was 91.
Throughout his rule, he was a stalwart US ally, a bullwark against Islamic militancy and guardian of Egypt’s peace with Israel. But to the tens of thousands of young Egyptians who rallied for 18 days of unprecedented street protests in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and elsewhere in 2011, Mr. Mubarak was a relic, a latter-day pharaoh.
They were inspired by the Tunisian revolt, and harnessed the power of social media to muster tumultuous throngs, unleashing popular anger over the graft and brutality that shadowed his rule. In the end, with millions massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and city centers around the country and even marching to the doorstep of Mr. Mubarak’s palace, the military that long nurtured him pushed him aside on February 11, 2011.
Hosni Mubarak, who rose to power after the assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat and then steered Egypt through the turmoil that swept the Arab world, has been sentenced to life in prison on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising. Photo shows a video image of Mubarak in the defendant's cage. Photo: AP
A frail Hosni Mubarak hearing the verdict against him from a gurney in the defendants’ cage, surrounded by his sons and former officials was in stark contrast to the image the former Egyptian President had sought to portray as the rock-solid “father of the nation.” Photo shows Mubarak, his sons and several security officers at a Cairo courtroom. Photo: AP
In the early days of his rule, Hosni Mubarak’s stern, colourless demeanour was seen as a welcome change from the charisma of Gamal Abdel-Nasser and the style of Anwar Sadat. The October 6, 1981 photo shows then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, right, and Vice-President Hosni Mubarak just before soldiers opened fire killing Sadat and injuring Mubarak. Photo: AP
In his early days, Mubarak made popular moves that held up promise of a more open society, including freeing 1,500 politicians, journalists and clerics jailed during Anwar Sadat’s last months in office. The March 7, 1983 photo shows Mubarak with then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Photo: AP
A former pilot and air force commander, Hosni Mubarak took tentative steps toward democratic reform early in his presidency but pulled back toward the dictatorial style. In the September 26, 1999 photo, Mubarak casts his ballot at a polling station in Cairo. Photo: AP
Later, Hosni Mubarak got himself re-elected in staged, one-man referendums in which he routinely won more than 90 per cent approval. His authoritarian governance, buttressed by harsh emergency laws, fuelled resentment. In the October 14, 1981 photo Mubarak speaks at his swearing-in ceremony as Egypt's fourth President. Photo: AP
Like the Great Sphinx that sits immutable through the millennia, Egypt under Hosni Mubarak stagnated ceding leadership to countries of the Gulf. In the March 28, 2007 photo Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz, second left, talks to Mubarak as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, centre, and Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League look on. Photo: AP
Hosni Mubarak’s image of cautious stability was once welcomed in the West, which feared that Anwar Sadat’s death would unleash a wave of unrest that would scuttle the fledgling peace with Israel. The September 1, 2010 photo shows U.S. President Barack Obama with Mubarak at the White House. Photo: AP
In 2005, Hosni Mubarak held the country’s first contested Presidential election, marred by charges of fraud and intimidation. In the July 14, 2005 photo protesters chant anti-Mubarak slogans. Banner reads "No to Mubarak: 24-years of poverty and suppression". Photo: AP
In 2011, the fear that Hosni Mubarak was grooming his son, Gamal, a wealthy businessman, to succeed him left many Egyptians feeling trapped in the past, deprived of change and renewal. Then, the uprising in Tunisia delivered an electrifying message — an old order can be ousted. In the November 28, 2010 photo Mubarak's son, Gamal, prepares to vote at a polling station in Cairo. Photo: AP
Hosni Mubarak initially responded to protests by saying he would not seek another term, and his government said his son, Gamal, would not run, either. But the President later rejected demands that he step down immediately, fuelling further protests. The January 25, 2011 photo shows anti-government protesters in Cairo. Photo: AP
Hosni Mubarak’s persuasive argument for 29 years — that he feared the country would sink deeper into chaos without him — was overwhelmed by the cries of huge crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square: “Leave! Leave!”. The February 11, 2011 photo shows protesters at the Tahrir Square in Cairo.
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The generals took power, hoping to preserve what they could of the system he headed.
Though Tunisia’s president fell before him, the ouster of Mr. Mubarak was the more stunning collapse in the face of the Arab Spring shaking regimes across the Arab world.
He became the only leader so far ousted in the protest wave to be imprisoned. He was convicted along with his former security chief on June 2012 and sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day who rose up against his autocratic regime in 2011. Both appealed the verdict and a higher court later cleared them in 2014.
The acquittal stunned many Egyptians, thousands of whom poured into central Cairo to show their anger against the court.
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