Mubarak jailed for life for protest deaths
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| Verdict moment (bbc) |
An
Egyptian court has sentenced ex-President Hosni Mubarak to life in prison for
complicity in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising.
The 84-year-old is the
first former leader to be tried in person since the start of the Arab Spring in
early 2011.
Mr Mubarak was transferred
to a prison and suffered a "health crisis" on the way, state TV
reported.Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly also received a life sentence. Four senior security officials were cleared.
The acquittals sparked clashes. Mubarak and his two sons were acquitted on separate charges of corruption.
Shouting and scuffles erupted in court after the verdict was read out.
Angry shouts
It's been a real swing of
emotions outside the courthouse.There was that moment of wild elation among protesters - many of them friends or relatives of victims - when the life sentence was pronounced on Hosni Mubarak and his former interior minister.
But then word came through of the other verdicts - the acquittal of Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, and particularly of security chiefs cleared on what many regard as a strange ruling that they were only obeying orders.
After that there were running clashes between riot police and protesters who feel their friends and relatives died for nothing. The mood in Egypt right now is very tense.
Outside
the building, Mubarak's sentencing was greeted by celebrations from relatives
of those killed, according to the BBC's Yolande Knell.
Firecrackers were set off.
Soha Saeed, the wife of one of the victims, shouted: "I'm so happy. I'm so
happy."But the joy soon turned into angry shouts as the crowd learned that the four senior aides to the former interior minister had been acquitted.
Protesters clashed with riot police. Many headed for Cairo's Tahrir Square, which was a leading focus in the protests that toppled Mr Mubarak.
Saturday's verdict also sparked angry demonstrations in Suez.
However in his preamble, Judge Ahmed Refaat insisted the 10-month trial had been a fair one.
He spoke of the Mubarak era as "30 years of darkness" and praised what he called "the sons of the nation who rose up peacefully for freedom and justice".
Announcing the verdicts, the judge then said Mubarak and Adly had failed to stop security forces using deadly force against unarmed demonstrators.
Mubarak, who ruled the country from 1981 to 2011, had faced a possible death sentence over the killing of about 850 protesters.
Prosecutors blamed
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood - the main opposition force under Mubarak's rule - said the defendants must be retried.
"The public prosecutor did not carry out its full duty in gathering adequate evidence to convict the accused for killing protesters," said Yasser Ali, a spokesman for brotherhood.
The verdicts and sentences
- Hosni Mubarak: Guilty of conspiring in killing of protesters - life imprisonment; not guilty of corruption
- Alaa and Gamal Mubarak: Not guilty of corruption
- Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly: Guilty of conspiring in killing of protesters - life imprisonment
- Four aides of al-Adly: Not guilty of charges of complicity, instigation and providing assistance in the murder and attempted murder of protesters
- Hussein Salem, business tycoon: Not guilty of corruption
Mubarak has been moved to the hospital of Tora prison, near Cairo, where a number of figures from the former government are serving jail sentences for corruption. Prosecutors had previously refused to send him to prison.
Since his trial began last August, Mubarak has been held in the International Medical Centre outside the capital, as his lawyer said he was in poor health.
His sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, are to remain in detention despite their acquittal. On Wednesday, prosecutors said they would go on trial with seven others on charges of stock market manipulation.
The verdict comes as political tensions are rising in Egypt between two rounds of voting in a presidential election.
Our correspondent says many of Egypt's revolutionaries are bitterly disappointed by the choice they now face - between a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Mursi, and Mubarak's last Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq.
The first leader toppled during the Arab Spring was Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, who was found guilty in absentia of drugs and gun charges in July.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels in October. Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh received immunity from prosecution after handing over power in November.
source: bbc
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