Tag: hosni mubarak
Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak Sentenced To Three Years In Prison In Graft Case

Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak Sentenced To Three Years In Prison In Graft Case

By Laura King and Amro Hassan, Los Angeles Times

CAIRO — Former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were convicted Wednesday of plundering the state treasury of millions of dollars, with the ex-leader sentenced to three years in prison and his sons to four years each.

The verdict by a Cairo court came more than three years after the revolution that drove the 86-year-old Mubarak from power following almost three decades of absolute rule. During his reign, he and his family lived a life of luxury amid Egypt’s overwhelming poverty, with private mansions and palaces furnished and renovated with public funds, according to prosecutors.

The three were fined 21.1 Egyptian pounds, which is the equivalent of about $3 million, and ordered to reimburse the state an additional 125 million pounds, or about $17.9 million. They had paid back some diverted funds before the proceedings began.

Mubarak has been in custody at a military hospital in Cairo, and was expected to remain there. His lawyers will likely argue that he is too ill and frail to serve prison time. The ex-leader still faces a retrial on charges related to the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the Tahrir Square uprising of 2011.

Mubarak and his sons — Gamal, whom he had tried to anoint as his successor, and Alaa, a business magnate — can appeal Wednesday’s verdict. If the sentence is upheld, they will receive credit for time already served. Four co-defendants were acquitted.

In the defendant’s caged dock, Mubarak sat impassive in dark glasses and a suit and tie, his hair still dyed jet-black, as the judge sternly lectured him over embezzling public funds while the country faced such enormous needs. His sons, who also face additional graft charges, were wearing white prison uniforms.

Egyptians were initially transfixed by images of a once all-powerful leader brought into court in the two cases — at times so enfeebled he was carried in on a stretcher. But the shock value has diminished as the legal proceedings dragged on for months, then years.

AFP Photo

Leading Egyptian Presidential Candidate Says He Warned Mubarak About Democracy Movement

CERNOBBIO, Italy (AP) — Amr Moussa, a leading candidate for the presidency of Egypt, said Friday that he had warned Hosni Mubarak days before his fall to call off security forces who attacked demonstrators but was ignored by an authoritarian ruler who seemed convinced he could ride out the popular uprising.

In an interview with The Associated Press at an economic conference in Italy, Moussa predicted that embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad would fall as well — and that democracy would spread across the region.

“I hope that all of them, including the Syrian regime, will understand that this is a historic trend. There’s no U-turn in it. People have spoken. They cannot get back to the normal life (of) the last 10, 20, 30 or 60 years,” Moussa said. “If they don’t, it’s a matter of time. … The situation now is untenable.”

Moussa said that as secretary-general of the Arab League earlier this year he encountered opposition to a tough hand against Syria because there was a desire to prioritize Libya’s descent into civil war — but there was also opposition to a direct Arab intervention in Libya. Instead the 22-member organization called on the world community to enforce a no-fly zone over the country and acquiesced to the NATO operation that last month succeeded in helping the rebels overthrow Moammar Gadhafi.

“Gadhafi was so adamant,” recalled Moussa, who left his League post earlier this year after a decade in the job and is now focusing on his run for president. “He was ready to pay any price to quell the opposition.”

In the case of Syria, he said, the Arab League would be more proactive: “I believe that the Arab League will vote (to) intervene — an Arab intervention to protect the population, I don’t know whether military or not. It was not available in the Libyan case, because I tried it and I did not succeed.”

“I do expect the success of the revolution in Syria.”

Moussa, who served Mubarak in the 1990s as foreign minister, acknowledged that the Arab Spring — as the uprisings in the region have come to be known — “surprised everybody.”

“But the event itself, a revolution against tyranny, was in the air. So many of us smelled it, expected it, predicted it, including myself.”

He said that in January, when Egypt’s unrest began, he told Mubarak: “People are angry and people are frustrated. Those forces have to stop.” Mubarak, he said, offered “no reaction … perhaps he was very much confident that his security forces could prevent this from happening.”

At least 860 people were killed in several weeks of violence, and Mubarak was ultimately toppled on Feb. 11.

Was Moussa comfortable observing the humiliation of his former boss, hauled before an Egyptian tribunal in August on a stretcher due to his poor health and confined to a defendant’s cage in public, sons by his side?

“I am comfortable with the fact that it is a real trial,” Moussa replied, looking less than fully comfortable. “Look, if you go and visit the poor areas in Cairo … you will see the amount of neglect, the result of corruption that that regime is responsible. This is too bad. Eight million in greater Cairo live in slums. … I get really angry especially on this score.”

Mubarak is charged with complicity in the killings of protesters during the uprising and with corruption. Mubarak has denied the charges, as have his sons, Gamal and Alaa, who are also accused in the corruption charges.

Moussa said Egypt’s new military government was doing the best it could with a transition phase and that he expected fully free presidential elections to be held in the first quarter of 2012. Parliamentary elections are expected in November.

Moussa rejected the fears of some in the West — that the peace treaty with Israel was in danger, or that Islamists might emerge powerful and that in a worst-case scenario Egypt might go the way of Iran, where the Shah was overthrown largely by secular forces who were then quickly undone by an Islamic revolution.

“I don’t think that the Islamic currents will have the majority,” he said. “We’ll have very … serious debate — it won’t be easy for any group to enforce certain kind of laws on the parliament.”

The urbane, 74-year-old Moussa, who is running near the top of most polls, conceded that he might have a problem with voters who see him as less than a breath of fresh air.

“They might think that yes, I (was) with President Mubarak. OK, so they can vote against me,” he said.

What would Egypt be like under a President Moussa?

“We have to fix poverty,” he said, adding that he would begin the task by sacking local officials who are corrupt and unqualified.

“I want democracy in the right sense of the word: basic human rights respected, separation of authority, independent public judiciary. … I want to see a vibrant Egypt, first correcting the situation internally and then getting back to its prestigious role in the region. … Once Egypt is a true democracy … it will be the engine of change across the Arab world.”

He said that change could even touch a country like Saudi Arabia, currently a proudly independent and tightly controlled monarchy where women cannot drive and individual rights are minimal.

“There might be differences between change in Saudi Arabia and change in Egypt, monarchies and a republic or something of that kind, but change will sweep the Arab world in my opinion.”

Maria Grazia Murru contributed to this report.

Whole World Watches Mubarak Trial Begin

The trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which began Wednesday in Cairo, will send a strong signal to the rest of the world about the strength of Egypt’s new government. Many view the trials, which are being broadcast throughout the region, as an opportunity for Egypt to take a step toward open democracy and away from the legacy of Mubarak’s authoritarian justice system.

[Mubarak’s trial] was, in the words of pastry shop owner Saif Mahmoud in Baghdad, a “rewriting of the rules between the region’s people and their leaders”.

Palestinian Salah Abu Samera, 29, saw emerging democracy.

“It’s unusual in the Arab world,” he said, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “This is the first time we see a leader in a real court. This is good for democracy, good for the future. We’ve always heard of leaders on trial in Israel, in Turkey, in the U.S., or Europe. But this is the first time in the Arab world.”

Another Palestinian, retiree Mohammed Adnan, 64, described Mubarak’s trial as a “huge move” for the region. He said the longtime Egyptian strongman never would have treated his people as he did had he headed a democratic country and knew he would be held accountable for his actions.”

If Mubarak’s trial goes smoothly, it will send a strong message to the region and to the world that the successes of Egypt’s revolution did not end with Mubarak’s removal from power.

With great opportunity also comes great risk. There are legitimate questions regarding the strength of Egypt’s legal institutions, and the chaos surrounding the first day of the trial has done nothing to assuage fears that Egypt’s judicial system cannot handle such a high profile case. About 53 people were injured in riots outside the courthouse, and inside the courtroom confusion often reigned (highlighted by a bizarre moment in which a lawyer speaking on behalf of Mubarak’s victims claimed that the former President has been dead for 7 years, and that the man standing trial today is an imposter).

The Egyptian revolution has inspired similar uprisings across the region, and pro-democracy advocates are watching the outcome of Mubarak’s trial with great interest. If Egypt is unable to prosecute Mubarak with a fair trial, it could strike a serious psychological blow to other democratic movements. It could also greatly undermine the legitimacy of Egypt’s young government.

Nobody can be sure how the Egyptian justice system will perform in the upcoming months; the only certainty is that the entire world will be watching.