Egypt Holds Funeral for Former President Mubarak
CAIRO (Dispatches) – Egypt held a military funeral in Cairo on Wednesday to bury its former president Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for 30 years until he was ousted in a 2011 popular uprising.
Horses drew Mubarak’s coffin draped in the Egyptian flag at a mosque complex, followed by a procession led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s top military brass, Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal and other Egyptian and Arab dignitaries.
Mubarak died on Tuesday in intensive care weeks after undergoing surgery, leaving Egyptians divided over his legacy presiding over an era of stagnation and repression.
He was swept out of power as an early victim of the Arab Spring revolutions that swept the region in 2011. He spent many of the subsequent years in jail and military hospitals before being freed in 2017.
Egypt’s presidency declared three days of national mourning.
Mubarak’s coffin was to be airlifted from the Field Marshall Tantawi mosque to the family burial grounds, state television reported.
Dozens of Mubarak supporters, some from his home village Kafr al-Meselha in the Nile Delta, gathered outside the mosque.
Mohamed Zaree, a human rights activist, said the present era of autocracy and economic hardship was worse than Mubarak’s.
President Sisi, who came to power after leading the overthrow of Mubarak’s successor, Mohamed Mursi, has overseen a broad crackdown on dissent, which rights groups say is the most severe in recent memory.
Many of the activists who helped organize mass protests which ousted Mubarak are now behind bars or live in exile abroad. Sisi’s supporters say a crackdown was needed to stabilize the country after the turmoil that followed 2011.
Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt in 2011, but was freed in 2017 after being cleared of those charges.
Horses drew Mubarak’s coffin draped in the Egyptian flag at a mosque complex, followed by a procession led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s top military brass, Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal and other Egyptian and Arab dignitaries.
Mubarak died on Tuesday in intensive care weeks after undergoing surgery, leaving Egyptians divided over his legacy presiding over an era of stagnation and repression.
He was swept out of power as an early victim of the Arab Spring revolutions that swept the region in 2011. He spent many of the subsequent years in jail and military hospitals before being freed in 2017.
Egypt’s presidency declared three days of national mourning.
Mubarak’s coffin was to be airlifted from the Field Marshall Tantawi mosque to the family burial grounds, state television reported.
Dozens of Mubarak supporters, some from his home village Kafr al-Meselha in the Nile Delta, gathered outside the mosque.
Mohamed Zaree, a human rights activist, said the present era of autocracy and economic hardship was worse than Mubarak’s.
President Sisi, who came to power after leading the overthrow of Mubarak’s successor, Mohamed Mursi, has overseen a broad crackdown on dissent, which rights groups say is the most severe in recent memory.
Many of the activists who helped organize mass protests which ousted Mubarak are now behind bars or live in exile abroad. Sisi’s supporters say a crackdown was needed to stabilize the country after the turmoil that followed 2011.
Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt in 2011, but was freed in 2017 after being cleared of those charges.