An Egyptian court sentenced 43 individuals to life in prison July 25 for crimes of vandalism, rioting and attacking authorities. The acts for which the protesters were convicted took place in 2011, amid the outbreak of demonstrations against then-president Hosni Mubarak. The defendants were also fined a combined 17 million Egyptian pounds (approx. $1 million). Ten other protesters were handed down lesser sentences of five or 10 years, while 96 protesters were acquitted of their charges. The convicted parties may appeal their sentences.
From Jurist, July 26. Used with permission.
Note: These sentences come down as other activists are being prosecuted under Egypt's harsh new anti-protest law. Hosni Mubarak, acquitted on retrial of ordering the killing of protesters in 2011, was meanwhile released from prison earlier this year.
Egypt acknowledges detainment of human rights lawyer
The Egyptian Supreme State Security Prosecution on Sept. 14 acknowledged the detainment of Ibrahim Metwally, a human rights lawyer. Metwally was arrested three days prior after he was suspected of providing legal aid to the family of an Italian graduate student who abducted and killed by Egyptian forces while in Cairo in 2016. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms is calling on the government to release Metwally and to drop any and all potential criminal charges pending against him. (Jurist)
Mubarak sons charged with stock market manipulation
An Egyptian court on Sept. 15 ordered the arrest of two sons of former president Hosni Mubarak on charges of stock market manipulation. Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were indicted, along with seven others, for "violating stock market and central bank rules to make unlawful profits through dealing in shares of Al Watany Bank of Egypt." The brothers reportedly made around 500 million pounds ($28 million) in unlawful profits.
This is not the first time Alaa and Gamal have had trouble with the Egyptian courts. In 2011 judicial officials announced that ousted president Hosni Mubarak, along with both sons, would stand trial over the deaths of anti-government protesters. In 2015 all three family members were sentenced to three years in prison on charges of embezzling state funds allocated for renovating presidential palaces. They were released in this case after already serving time in custody. (Jurist)
Hosni Mubarak dies at 91
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, whose 30-year rule ended when he was ousted during the Arab Spring in 2011, died Feb. 24 in Cairo at the age of 91.Two months after being ousted from office, in April 2011, Mubarak was arrested and sentenced to life in prison on charges he ordered the killing of protesters. But he was acquitted on retrial in 2017. The majority of the years before his acquittal were spent at the Maadi Military Hospital in a guarded room overlooking the Nile.
Last week, two of Mubarak’s sons were acquitted of stock exchange manipulation in an ongoing investigation that began in 2012. (Jurist)