Mubarak guilty of protest deaths
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.
Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly also received a life sentence over the deaths of demonstrators.
Mubarak and his two sons – Gamal and Alaa – were acquitted on separate charges of corruption.
Shouting and scuffles between rival groups erupted in court after the verdict was read out.
Judge Ahmed Refaat insisted the 10-month trial had been a fair one, and said Egyptian people had suffered 30 years of darkness under Mubarak’s rule.
Mubarak, who ruled the country for 30 years, had faced a possible death sentence over the killing of about 850 protesters by security forces last year.
But critics had argued that the investigation had been flawed.
Witnesses withdrew initial statements that police had been ordered to use live ammunition.
The verdicts and sentences
- Hosni Mubarak: Guilty of conspiring in killing of protesters – life imprisonment; not guilty of corruption
- Alaa and Gamal Mubarak: Not guily of corruption
- Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly: Gulity 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
