http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/116711/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-judge-drops-murder-charges-against-Mubarak,-.aspx
Egypt judge drops murder charges against Mubarak, acquits on illicit gains
Failure to convict ousted president Mubarak, sons and police chiefs have
been criticised by some rights analysts and political figures
Ahram Online , Saturday 29 Nov 2014
A Cairo criminal court dropped charges Saturday against former Egyptian
president Hosni Mubarak for responsibility in the killing of protesters in
the January 2011 uprising.
The judge said he would drop the murder case against Mubarak because the
prosecution's earlier decision on 23 March 2011 to charge the 86-year-old
lacked the legal basis to bring a criminal case against the ousted
president.
The judge also ruled that the statute of limitations had expired on the
charges against Mubarak, his two sons and businessman Hussein Salem on
charges of profiteering from illegal gifts of villas.
In addition, Mubarak was acquitted of charges of collaborating with his
minister of petroleum to profit from Hussein Salem's company by giving
Salem the rights to export Egyptian natural gas to Israel at below market
rates.
Salem was also acquitted of the charges.
Former Interior Minister Habib El-Adly along with his six aides were
acquitted of charges of murder and attempted murder related to the killing
of protesters in January 2011.
Mubarak and El-Adly were initially found guilty in June 2012 of
responsibility for the killing of protesters and sentenced to life
imprisonment. The initial verdict was appealed successfully and a retrial
began in April 2013. Alaa and Gamal were defendants in the trial, but only
faced corruption charges.
Despite being acquitted on Saturday, Mubarak and his two sons are still
facing separate three-year prison terms for embezzlement of public funds.
The prosecution has said that it would appeal the verdict.
The 86-year-old former president who ruled for 30 years has spent much of
his detention at a military hospital on the southern outskirts of Cairo.
El-Adly will also remain jailed. He was convicted on separate corruption
charges, for which he now serves a seven-year jail sentence.
Salem was tried in absentia.
*Verdict hailed by some*
Dozens of Mubarak supporters hailed the verdict, waving pictures of the
former president outside the courtroom where the verdict was issued, while
the defence camp was jubilant.
El-Adly's lawyer, Essam El-Battawy, told CBC satellite channel that
although his client will remain in prison on other charges he is optimistic
he will soon be found completely innocent.
El-Adly has only one case ongoing and it is being appealed, his lawyer
said. The remaining case, known in the Egyptian media as the "licence
plates case," involves a government contract awarded to a German company to
provide licence plates for vehicles at inflated prices.
El-Adly was acquitted of other corruption charges in previous cases, and
was acquitted Saturday of responsibility for the killing of protesters in
2011, explained El-Battawy.
Speaking to Egyptian radio from Spain after the verdict was business tycoon
Hussein Salem, who was acquitted of corruption in the Saturday verdict.
Salem, who has been abroad since the 2011 uprising, said he would return as
soon as possible.
"Tahya misr (long live Egypt)!" he said during his interview, repeating the
patriotic slogan that is often deployed by supporters of the military.
Talking to Ahram Online, the deputy head of the Conference Party, Salah
Hasaballah, defended the verdict, saying that Mubarak had given a lot to
Egypt during his presidency.
Regardless of what the verdict had been, Hasaballah said that “Egyptians
are more concerned with the political future of their country than with the
past."
“After two revolutions and after a new elected president, our priorities
are to focus on how to build the new Egypt.”
The Conference Party was founded last year by Mubarak-era foreign minister
Amr Moussa.
*Political backlash unlikely*
Political analyst Mohamed El-Agaty of the Arab Forum for Alternatives
think-tank told Ahram Online that he expects that the political backlash to
the verdict to be small and to pass quickly.
El-Agaty argued that the state and media have been propagating a state of
"panic" that will not allow for any mobilisation against the verdict.
Similarly, April 6 Youth Movement member Zizo Abdo also believes that the
media has had an effect on public attitudes to the case making it unlikely
people will object.
“I don’t believe that Egyptians will react against the verdict after the
media has spent more than three years making propaganda against the
revolution…saying it serves foreign agendas," he told Ahram Online, adding
that he believed security forces would not allow people to mobilise against
the verdict anyway.
He added that the "revolutionary movement" in Egypt is not strong enough at
present to mobilise a reaction to the verdict.
“In light of the oppression of the security forces on any protests or
political movements, I will not rely at this phase on the revolutionary
movements [for protesting the verdict]; especially as security forces are
supported by a majority of Egyptians,” said Abdo.
Security forces reportedly closed off Tahrir Square on Saturday afternoon,
in anticipation of possible protests. Demonstrations are outlawed in Egypt,
unless prior permission has been given by the interior ministry.
*Trial, legal system citicised*
Political analyst El-Agaty further argued that the case's verdict was to a
large extent expected because of the legal elements of the case.
"It was also clear from the start that this case will go nowhere…there are
no proper laws to fight corruption…you can’t put them [former regime
figures] on trial using their own laws," he stated, adding that the
legislation currently used to try figures from the former regime were
mostly instated by them.
Head of the liberal Constitution Party, Hala Shukrallah, told Ahram Online
that the problem is to a large extent the legal system, which lacks the
right legislation to try cases involving corruption and mass killings.
"We (political parties) need to focus on changing the laws," she said.
Local rights watchdog the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
labelled the verdict “disappointing” and said it would "further entrench
impunity for gross human rights violations committed by security forces,
yet again absolved of responsibility for killing, injuring and torturing
protesters."
In a statement released Saturday the rights body criticised the trial
process, citing a failure by judicial authorities to address “deep flaws in
the original trial.”
“Initial proceedings were marred by shortcomings ranging from the public
prosecution's inadequate investigations, to the court's disregard of
victims' lawyers motions to consider new evidence, to the judges' decision
to ignore over a thousand witness accounts and audiovisual and other
material evidence demonstrating police involvement in the killings," the
statement read.
EIPR also echoed concerns about the way the Egyptian justice system handles
such cases, stating that the acquittals “expose deep flaws in the Egyptian
Code of Criminal Procedures entrusting evidence-gathering to police even in
cases of alleged police abuse, allowing them to tamper with the evidence or
withhold it to escape accountability.”
“Without having independent bodies investigating cases of police brutality,
justice cannot be achieved," it added.
The statement drew a contrast between Saturday’s verdicts with the guilty
verdicts handed down in the “Matay” case, when 37 defendants were sentenced
to death and 491 to life in prison on charges of killing a single police
officer in August 2013. According to EIPR, the judge in that case argued
that criminal intent to kill any member of the police forces and the
defendant’s presence at the crime scene was sufficient evidence to convict
the defendants of murder or attempted murder.
*Return of the old regime?*
In addition to legal barriers that prevent such political figures from
being convicted, Shukrallah said that she believes politically Egypt "is
going back to how things were before the January 25 revolution."
"The old political order is being reinstated…even the figures of the old
regime are resurfacing," she said.
Lawyer Amir Salem also argued that the verdict was a political statement,
described the sentence as one that "acquits the former regime as a whole."
He told Ahram Online that the presiding judge's argument in the case was
that he could not hold either Mubarak or El-Adly accountable for killing
protesters after all the police officers under their command had been
earlier found innocent and policemen have been systematically released
since the January 2011 revolution.
"This verdict washes the hands of the former regime completely," he said.
Amr Darrag, a former minister in Mohamed Morsi’s government and a leading
Muslim Brotherhood figure also stressed that the verdict was a political
one, writing on Twitter in Arabic that "no real trial can take place under
the current circumstances. A real trial can only be achieved when the
people's will prevails and they reclaim the revolution."
Hosni Mubarak was removed from power following the 2011 revolution. During
the first 18 days of protests, around 840 protesters were killed and more
than 6,000 injured.
Received on Sat Nov 29 2014 - 17:39:59 EST