Ex-Egyptian president Mubarak dies at 91
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Mr Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was ousted in the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.
CAIRO • Former president Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, died yesterday after undergoing treatment in intensive care following surgery. He was 91.
The former air force officer will be buried in a military funeral, a military source told Reuters.
Mr Mubarak's son Alaa said in a Twitter post which included images of his late father that he had died yesterday morning.
Egypt's presidency said in a statement that it mourned the death of Mr Mubarak as a "military leader and war hero" and offered condolences to his family.
The United Arab Emirates' Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said the Arab world had lost a statesman who took significant national and historic positions.
Mr Mubarak was thrust into the presidency by a very public assassination. As vice-president to Mr Anwar Sadat, he was a stopgap in the anxious days of 1981 after the president was gunned down beside him at a military parade.
Mr Mubarak ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was ousted following mass protests in the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.
He was arrested in April 2011, two months after stepping down, and was in prison and military hospitals until 2017, when he was freed after being cleared of charges of ordering the killing of protesters.
He was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt. An appeals court ordered a retrial and the case against him and his senior officials was dropped. He was finally acquitted in 2017.
He was, however, convicted in 2015 along with his two sons of diverting public funds and using the money to upgrade family properties. They were jailed for three years.
Many Egyptians who lived through Mr Mubarak's time in power view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism. His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election, which brought in Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
Mr Mursi lasted only a year in office after mass protests in 2013 led to his overthrow by the then defence chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now the president.
Mubarak-era figures, meanwhile, are gradually being cleared of charges, and laws limiting political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old regime is back.
Mr Mubarak had long maintained his innocence and said history would judge him a patriot who served his country selflessly.
REUTERS
