By RFE/RL
June 02, 2012
Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been sentenced to life in prison after a court found him guilty of complicity in the killing of peaceful protesters.
The court gave the same sentence to former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly on the same charges.
However, the judge, Ahmed Refaat, said that a corruption case against Mubarak’s two sons, Alaa and Gamal, had been dropped, while six former police chiefs were acquitted.
Following the televised verdict, protests and scuffles broke out inside the courtroom. People inside the hall shouted “invalid” in protest at the verdict.
The maximum penalty for Mubarak and his co-defendants could have been death.
Mubarak had been wheeled into a cage in the courtroom on a gurney, after being flown in by helicopter.
The former strongman, wearing dark glasses, showed no emotion as the judge read the sentence.
However, state media later reported that Mubarak had suffered “a health crisis” while being moved from the courtroom to a prison outside Cairo, and was receiving medical treatment.
Some reports said Mubarak had refused to exit the helicopter taking him to prison.
Mubarak’s lawyers said they would appeal the sentence.
Yasser Bahr, a senior member of Mubarak’s defense team said, the ruling was “full of legal flaws from every angle.”
Chaotic scenes occurred outside the trial venue — a police academy outside Cairo.
Some people cheered in delight following the sentencing, before clashes erupted, prompting police to use stun grenades to control the crowds.
On June 2, Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood called for mass demonstrations in protest of the acquittal of the six police chiefs.
Senior Brotherhood official Mahmud Ghozlan said, “If the police commanders are innocent, then who killed the protesters?”
Some 5,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers have been deployed in and around the venue.
Around 850 people were killed — most of them shot dead — in Cairo and other major cities during the 18 days of mass protests in early 2011 that swept Mubarak and his regime from power during the so-called Arab Spring, which also saw the ousting of Tunisia and Libya’s authoritarian leaders.
Meanwhile, state media said Mubarak, who had been detained in hospital until now, has been moved by helicopter to the Tora prison outside Cairo, following an order from the prosecutor-general based on the court’s verdict.
Mubarak is the first Arab leader to be tried by his own people in a court.
Mubarak’s sons are to remain in detention despite their acquittal.
On May 30, Egyptian prosecutors said Alaa and Gamal Mubarak would go on trial on charges of manipulating the stock market.
Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, AFP, and AP