HOSNI Mubarak, Egypt’s president for almost 30 years who stepped down after a popular revolution in 2011, has died. He was 91.
Aljazeera on Tuesday reported that Mubarak died weeks after undergoing surgery.
According to reports made available by the deceased brother-in-law, General Mounir Thabet, Mubarak passed away at Cairo’s Galaa military hospital.
Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak’s time in power view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
Mubarak became Egypt’s fourth president in 1981 before he was removed from power as citizens of the country protested his leadership- the process which birthed what became the Arab Spring revolution.
Mubarak had been sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt.
An appeals court ordered a retrial and the case against Mubarak and his senior officials were dropped. He was finally acquitted in 2017.
He was however convicted in 2015 along with his two sons of diverting public funds and using the money to upgrade family properties. They were sentenced to three years in jail.
Since his arrest in April 2011, Mubarak spent nearly six years in jail in hospitals.
Under his rule, Egypt remained a key United States ally in the region – receiving $1.3bn a year in US military aid by 2011.
The former president survived by wife, Suzanne, and his sons, Gamal and Alaa have been hailed as the guardian of Egypt’s peace with Israel.
