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WORLD NEWS Saturday 25 March 2017

Egypt’s Mubarak free, acquitted after years-long detention

afflict most Egyptians to- wife, Suzanne, celebrated business was badly hurt
day,” said Joe Stork, dep- his return by having break- from the last currency flota-
uty Middle East director for fast together. tion and devaluation, ex-
Human Rights Watch. His lengthy trial unfolded pressed his enduring loyalty
Mubarak left the Armed alongside a series of na- for the former leader, say-
Forces Hospital in Cairo’s tional upheavals: the rise ing: “Mubarak is my presi-
southern leafy suburb of and fall of Islamists in 2013, dent.”
Maadi, where he has spent and the military seizing “I hope Mubarak returns
most of his detention since power with its strongman, back to power,” said
the 2011 revolt, and was army chief-turned-presi- Ahmed, “I was living in
driven in a motorcade to dent Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, better conditions during
his home in the upscale He- who won the presidency in Mubarak’s time than now-
liopolis district under heavy 2014. adays.”
security, according to an Many of Mubarak’s oppo- Rights lawyers and activ-
Egyptian security official. nents and supporters alike ists believe that Mubarak’s
The official spoke on condi- believe that since his ouster release is an illustration of
tion of anonymity because the country is now worse the deep state restoring its
In this April 13, 2013 photo, former Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak waves to his supporters from behind bars as he attends he was not authorized to off. El-Sissi has restored mil- power, rescuing one of its
a hearing in his retrial on appeal in Cairo, Egypt. Mubarak re- talk to the media. itary-heavy authoritarian own.
turned home free on Friday, March 24, 2017 following his release Mubarak’s lawyer, Farid el- rule and taken severe, pur- “The trials, appeals and re-
from custody after legal proceedings that took years since his Deeb, told the Al-Masry al- portedly corrective, eco- trials — followed by acquit-
2011 ouster — years during which the country witnessed major Youm daily that the former nomic measures that have tals — were only meant to
upheavals and rights activists saw their hopes scuttled that the president returned home left millions of Egyptians buy time until the military
autocrat would face justice for the deaths of hundreds who de-
fied his rule. with his sons, Alaa and Ga- reeling. took back power,” said
(AP Photo, File) mal, and that the entire A Mubarak supporter, Ahmed Helmi, a rights law-
family, including Mubarak’s Sameh Ahmed, whose yer in Cairo.q
MAGGIE MICHAEL Egyptian activists that the
Associated Press former autocrat would be
CAIRO (AP) — Far from more severely punished for
the cameras that followed his abuse of power have
him closely over six years been scuttled.
of legal wrangling, Egypt’s While Arab Spring uprisings
ousted President Hosni led to the collapse of cen-
Mubarak quietly returned tral governments in coun-
home to his family on Fri- tries like Yemen, Libya and
day after winning acquit- Syria, Egypt managed to
tals and release from a Cai- avoid a complete break-
ro hospital where he has down post Mubarak. But
been detained for years. since his ouster, heavy-
The 88-year-old onetime handed rule has returned
autocratic ruler now walks to the country in full force,
free, acquitted over his role and its economy has
in the killings of hundreds tanked.
of protesters who defied For many, Mubarak’s au-
his rule. He captured the thoritarian rule for nearly
world’s attention when he three decades doomed
stepped down in response any uprising to failure from
to an 18-day uprising, and the outset, given the depth
once again when he ap- and pervasiveness of insti-
peared — then jarringly tutionalized corruption un-
— behind the bars of the der his leadership.
defendant’s cage in a trial “Mubarak’s legacy has
that media dubbed “the been complicated by the
trial of the century.” gross crimes committed
With muted street reac- by his successors, but the
tion, his discreet release abuses institutionalized un-
underscored once again der his regime — corrup-
the failed aspirations of tion, police torture, military
the Arab uprisings that trials, emergency-style rule,
swept across the region in economic mismanage-
2011. The hopes carried by ment— are the ones that