Hosni Mubarak Acquitted Over Arab Spring Protester Deaths
BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been acquitted on Thursday over his alleged participation in the killings of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 Arab Spring.
After a day long trial in the Court of Cassations, Egypt’s highest criminal court, Judge Ahmed Abdel Qawi ruled the Mubarak, the defendant, was innocent. Lawyers of victims pleaded for the case to be reopened in the Cairo court, but the demands were rejected and Mubarak will soon walk free.
Mubarak was accused of provoking nearly 900 deaths in Egypt throughout the country’s 18-day uprising beginning in January of 2011. After 30 years in office, Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011 as a result of the uprisings.
In 2012, at the age of 81, Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison. He has spent most of that time in a military hospital due to his depleting health. He arrived at Thursday’s court hearing on a stretcher.
Mubarak will join other members of his administration who have been dismissed from their charges after the Arab Spring.
