The conviction of former Minister of Interior Habib el-Adly has marked the beginning of a broad reckoning with the legacy of three decades of Mubarak authoritarian rule, which ended on February 11 by a popular uprising.
El-Adly was the first of the two dozen Mubarak-era Ministers and businessmen linked to the regime be convicted. The others in custody include a former Prime Minister, the Presidents of the two houses of Parliament, and two sons of Mubarak, all the alleged corruption.
El-Adly said nothing after hearing the verdict but seemed visibly distraught, as he was later taken by guards of the police in an armoured truck was taken to jail. Hundreds of demonstrators outside the courthouse shouted insults at him that he made his way toward the truck, with some demanding that he be executed.
El-Adly served as Minister of the Interior of Mubarak for 13 years, once in the course of which its 500,000 strong security forces were blamed for some of the worst violations of human rights Egypt had seen in decades. Anger at the police brutality, including by members of the notorious State Security Agency, was a main reason for the uprising. This agency has since been dismantled.
The Court also sentenced to a fine of el-Adly 15 million Egyptian pounds, or about $ 2.5 million and ordered his property confiscated.
He faces allegations in another case that he had ordered the deadly use of live ammunition against demonstrators unarmed during the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak. About 850 people were killed in January 25 February 11 uprising, which was conducted by youth groups.
If he is convicted on that charge, el-Adly incur the death penalty.
Mubarak himself and one of his sons, single heir apparent Gamal, face same allegations in the massacres of demonstrators.
El-Adly and former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif also face charges of corruption related to the award of a contract for the supply of new motor vehicle licence plates without going through legal proceedings.
El-Adly is also criticized for the security vacuum created when the police disappeared in the streets of Cairo and other cities across the country, on 28 January, after several days of deadly clashes with the demonstrators. The circumstances of their disappearance were not fully explained to this day, but the effects of the vacuum that he created are still felt.
Crowds armed criminals and parents have tried over the last two days to release suspects of cells to four police stations, three of them in Cairo, a city of some 18 million people in detention.
All except one four attempts was successful. In a jailbreak, the crowd was able to release about 90 detainees by the police station in the Sahel North of Cairo Tuesday. Police have up to this new order 28 suspects escaped.
Also, the authorities continue to hunt for thousands of inmates in several prisons Egyptian in the uprising and shortly after the eviction of Mubarak.
On Tuesday, several hundred people set to bag a Cairo courtroom after a judge ordered the release without bail of 13 police officers charged with killing and injuring of demonstrators in the uprising. The crowd, estimated at approximately 500 and composed of parents and friends, was also tempted assailing the Justice of the victims.
In the city of the Sinai North of el-Arish, Thursday, an armed force have been identified when they arrived at a seaside compound to investigate a report of gunmen hiding in the region. A soldier was killed and injured an officer, an official security and a doctor of the hospital said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
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