In a much-anticipated moment, Egyptians woke up Wednesday to the arrest of former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons for 15 days pending investigations into the deaths of hundreds of protesters during a revolution that culminated in the president's resignation in February.
This detention of the 83-year-old veteran military pilot sets a precedent in the modern history of the Arab world, where no ruler had ever been brought to trial in national court on the heels of a sweeping revolt. The attorney general's decision to hold the Mubaraks in custody aroused mixed feelings of joy and disbelief among Egyptians, who were skeptical that the Supreme Council of Armed Forces would allow the prosecution of its former leader.
“I feel I am in the middle of a nice dream and I do not want to wake up,” said Mahmoud al-Khodeiry, former vice president of Egypt’s highest appellate court. “But this news is true and we have already paid for it. We sacrificed [hundreds] of martyrs and thousands of injured to get rid of this man.”
Mubarak is currently in a Sharm el-Sheikh hospital after suffering a heart attack Tuesday. His sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, were arrested on grounds of illicit gains in the South Sinai Governorate capital Al-Tor and were flown to a Cairo prison earlier today, according to state television. The Associated Press reported that people pelted the police truck carrying the Mubarak sons with stones, water bottles and shoes.
Alaa, the eldest son, allegedly administered a suspicious business network using his father’s power to accumulate wealth, while Mubarak's wife Suzanne was seen as the mastermind of a plan to groom Gamal to succeed his father. In just a few years, the 47-year-old former banker had gained a prominent role in his father’s ruling party and rose to the forefront as an acting ruler.
“This is an important precedent,” said Samer Soliman, a co-founder of the would-be Egyptian Social Democratic Party. “Since the 19th century, none of the rulers of modern Egypt stood trial. They were either exiled like King Farouk or died after a major defeat like Gamal Abdel Nasser or killed like Anwar Sadat.”
At the onset of the revolution, the rebellious mood of Egypt's youth spread exponentially across the country, eventually leading to the collapse of Mubarak’s police apparatus and to the deployment of the military to safeguard public order. After nearly two weeks of persistent protests, Mubarak was forced to step down and hand power over to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.
After his resignation, Mubarak was put under house arrest in Sharm el-Sheikh. But protesters weren't satisfied, demanding investigations into his wealth and alleged corruption and that of his cronies. His resignation had opened the door for widescale investigations into the former regime. Mubarak's inflated wealth alone is estimated to be tens of billions of Egyptian pounds.
With censorship loosened and more sources willing to talk, local and foreign media have leveled a plethora of allegations against him and his family, including the illicit acquisition of public funds. Earlier this week, The Washington Post unveiled a request from Egyptian prosecutors to the United States and other countries asking for their help in recovering assets that Mubarak allegedly maintains abroad. The document estimated the value of those assets at more than US$700 billion.
“This is a great achievement,” said Soliman. “People were saying that bringing Mubarak to trial was impossible, but it was proven that public pressure can make anything possible.”
Outraged by the figures suggested by media reports, hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Tahrir Square last week, demanding the trial of Mubarak and other regime figures. On the sidelines of the protest, al-Khodeiry presided over a mock trial of the toppled president. Sitting on a stage erected in the heart of the square, al-Khodeiry listened to the prosecution and witnesses who demanded the execution of Mubarak, pointing to a handcuffed protester wearing a Mubarak mask and locked in a cage.
In recent weeks, many pro-democratic forces accused the military and the attorney general of being slow to arrest and prosecute Mubarak and the remnants of his regime. Disappointment in military council's performance was exacerbated after soldiers used force to disperse a sit-in Saturday. Two military leaders made televised statements Tuesday denying the use of live ammunition against protesters and affirming their commitment to people’s demands. In the meantime, the two generals asserted that former statesmen, no matter how senior they were, would face trial if implicated in any violations.
Many of Mubarak’s ministers, including former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, are currently behind bars on charges of corruption. Last week, the crackdown reached Mubarak’s inner circle with the arrest of his long-serving Chief of Staff Zakareya Azmi on grounds of illicit gains. Five days later, Egyptian prosecutors also detained Safwat al-Sherif, another Mubarak protege and former head of the Shura Council. Fathi Sorour, former speaker of the People’s Assembly and one of the architects of Mubarak’s oppressive laws, is being investigated on similar charges.
“[The Mubaraks] are the spearheads of corruption,” said al-Khodeiry. “I hope to carry on these legal procedures until we cleanse the country from all corruption.”
Mubarak has not yet been interrogated by the Illicit Gains Authority on charges of illegal profiteering and inflated wealth. Earlier this week, the former president refuted all accusations brought against him and his family in a recorded audio message aired on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya satellite television channel.
“Mubarak should also be tried for his falsification of the people’s will for 30 years,” said Soliman, who is also a political scientist at the American University in Cairo. “If we want to eradicate the legacy of dictatorship and send warnings to future leaders, we will have to try him for that.”
The coalition of youth revolutionary groups hailed the move as “an excellent development worth appreciation.” In return, the coalition, a loose entity consisting of youth-led groups that spearheaded the revolution, decided to suspend its Friday protests this week, according to the coalition’s representative, Nasser Abdel Hamed.
In the meantime, Abdel Hamed stressed that his coalition still has more demands, including the release of political detainees, the abolition of military trials for civilians, and the dissolution of the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) as well as NDP-dominated local councils.
