Hosni Mubarak

Hosni Mubarak
حسني مبارك
Official portrait, 1985
4th President of Egypt
In office
14 October 1981 – 11 February 2011
Prime Minister
See list
Vice President
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Prime Minister of Egypt
In office
7 October 1981 – 2 January 1982
President
  • Sufi Abu Taleb (acting)
  • Himself
Preceded byAnwar Sadat
Succeeded byAhmad Fuad Mohieddin
Vice-President of Egypt
In office
16 April 1975 – 14 October 1981
PresidentAnwar Sadat
Preceded by
Succeeded byOmar Suleiman[b]
Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office
16 July 2009 – 11 February 2011
Preceded byRaúl Castro
Succeeded byMohamed Hussein Tantawi (acting)
Commander of the Air Force
In office
23 April 1972 – 16 April 1975
PresidentAnwar Sadat
Preceded byAli Mustafa Baghdady
Succeeded byMahmoud Shaker
Director of the Egyptian Air Academy
In office
November 1967 – June 1969[1]
Preceded byYahia Saleh Al-Aidaros
Succeeded byMahmoud Shaker
Personal details
Born
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak

(1928-05-04)4 May 1928
Kafr-El Meselha, Kingdom of Egypt
Died25 February 2020(2020-02-25) (aged 91)
Cairo, Egypt
Political partyNDP (1978–2011)
ASU (before 1978)
Spouse
(m. 1959)
Children
Alma mater
Signature
Military service
Branch/serviceEgyptian Air Force
Years of service1950–1975
RankAir chief marshal[2][c]
Commands
  1. ^ Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
  2. ^ Office vacant from 14 October 1981 to 29 January 2011
  3. ^ Military rank withdrawn after trial

Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak[a] (Arabic: محمد حسني مبارك‎; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.

Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force. He served as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rose to the rank of air chief marshal in 1973.[2] In 1975, he was appointed vice president by President Anwar Sadat and assumed the presidency after his assassination in 1981. Mubarak's presidency lasted almost thirty years, making him Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled the country for 43 years from 1805 to 1848.[3]

Less than two weeks after the assassination of President Sadat, Mubarak quickly assumed the presidency in the single-candidate 1981 referendum, and renewed his term through single-candidate referendums in 1987, 1993, and 1999. Under United States pressure, Mubarak held the country's first multi-party election in 2005, which he won. In 1989, he succeeded in reinstating Egypt's membership in the Arab League, which had been frozen since the Camp David Accords with Israel, and in returning the Arab League's headquarters back to Cairo. He was known for his supportive stance on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, in addition to his role in the Gulf War.[4] Despite providing stability and reasons for economic growth, his rule was repressive. The state of emergency, which had not been lifted since the 1967 war, stifled political opposition, the security services became known for their brutality, and corruption became widespread.[5]

Mubarak stepped down during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 after 18 days of demonstrations.[6] On 11 February 2011, then–Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that both he and Mubarak had resigned and transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.[7][8]

On 13 April 2011, a prosecutor ordered Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal to be detained for 15 days of questioning about allegations of corruption and abuse of power.[9] Mubarak was then ordered to stand trial on charges of negligence for failing to halt the killing of peaceful protesters during the revolution.[10] These trials began on 3 August 2011,[11] making him the first Arab leader to be tried in his own country in an ordinary court of law.[12][13] On 2 June 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced Mubarak to life imprisonment. After sentencing, he was reported to have suffered a series of health crises. On 13 January 2013, Egypt's Court of Cassation (the nation's high court of appeal) overturned Mubarak's sentence and ordered a retrial.[14] On retrial, Mubarak and his sons were convicted on 9 May 2015 of corruption and given prison sentences.[15] Mubarak was detained in a military hospital while his sons were freed on 12 October 2015 by a Cairo court.[16] Mubarak was acquitted on 2 March 2017 by the Court of Cassation and was released on 24 March 2017.[17][18]

Mubarak died in 2020, aged 91.[19][20] He was honoured with a state funeral and buried at a family plot outside Cairo.[21]

  1. ^ Darraj, Susan Muaddi; Cox, Vicki (2007). Hosni Mubarak. Infobase. ISBN 978-1-4381-0467-6.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference EAF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Slackman, Michael (8 March 2010). "Hosni Mubarak". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  4. ^ "Profile: Hosni Mubarak". BBC News. 24 March 2017.
  5. ^ "Egypt profile – Overview". BBC News. 6 November 2015. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  6. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (28 January 2011). "Egypt Calls in Army as Protesters Rage". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  7. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D.; Shadid, Anthony; Cowell, Alan (11 February 2011). "Mubarak Steps Down, Ceding Power to Military". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  8. ^ "Egypt crisis: President Hosni Mubarak resigns as leader". BBC News. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  9. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D.; Stack, Liam (13 March 2011). "Prosecutors Order Mubarak and Sons Held". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  10. ^ "Mubarak to be tried for murder of protesters". Reuters. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  11. ^ "Trial of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak starts". BBC News. 3 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Hosni Mubarak sentenced to life in prison". the Guardian. 2 June 2012.
  13. ^ "Egypt: Q&A on the Trial of Hosni Mubarak". Human Rights Watch. 28 May 2012.
  14. ^ Egypt's Mubarak to get retrial Archived 20 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. 3 News. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  15. ^ "Egypt's Hosni Mubarak jailed in corruption retrial". BBC News. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  16. ^ "Jailed sons of Egypt's deposed leader Hosni Mubarak freed". Associated Press. 13 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Egypt's Hosni Mubarak acquitted over 2011 protester deaths". 3 March 2017.
  18. ^ "Egypt's Hosni Mubarak freed after six years in detention". BBC News. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  19. ^ "Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak dies at 91". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  20. ^ "Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak dies". BBC News. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  21. ^ Ruth Michaelson (26 February 2020). "Hosni Mubarak buried with full military honours". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2020.


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