Egypt’s former longtime president, Hosni Mubarak died Tuesday at age 91 at Cairo’s Galaa military hospital, his brother-in-law General Mounir Thabet told journalists.
Thabet, a former high-ranking military official, confirmed the family was still at the hospital and said the Egyptian presidential office would organise the funeral, an AFP report said.
Mubarak was in power from 1981 until he was overthrown in 2011 amid the region’s Arab Spring protests.
– Mubarak: A tough Egyptian General –
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak born May 4, 1928 was an Egyptian military and political leader who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force. He served as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rose to the rank of air chief marshal in 1973.
Some time in the 1950s, he returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor, remaining there until early 1959. He assumed presidency after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
Mubarak’s presidency lasted almost thirty years, making him Egypt’s longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled the country from 1805 to 1848, a reign of 43 years.
Mubarak stepped down after 18 days of demonstrations during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.
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 2011, a prosecutor ordered Mubarak and both of his sons (Alaa and Gamal) to be detained for 15 days of questioning about allegations of corruption and abuse of power.
Mubarak was then ordered to stand trial on charges of negligence for failing to halt the killing of peaceful protesters during the revolution. These trials began on 3 August 2011.
On 2 June 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced Mubarak to life imprisonment. After sentencing, he was reported to have suffered a series of health crises. On 13 January 2013, Egypt’s Court of Cassation (the nation’s high court of appeal) overturned Mubarak’s sentence and ordered a retrial, his Wikipedia entry said.
On retrial, Mubarak and his sons were convicted on 9 May 2015 of corruption and given prison sentences. Mubarak was detained in a military hospital and his sons were freed 12 October 2015 by a Cairo court.
He was acquitted on 2 March 2017 by the Court of Cassation and released on 24 March 2017.
He died on 25 February 2020.
Egypt’s former longtime ruler, Hosni Mubarak dies at 91
