SECURITY ALERT WITH JIDE

Former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, sentenced to life imprisonment

Ousted Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, was on Saturday morning sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption and involvement in last year’s killings of hundreds of protesters by security forces.
The protesters were demanding his exit from power.
Mubarak was wheeled into the courtroom on a bed inside a cage of mesh and iron bars and was later found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mubarak’s interior minister Habib El Adly received a similar sentence, VOA reports.
The verdict was given in a makeshift court, a lecture hall once named after Mubarak in the police academy in Cairo, amid unprecedented security. Crowds outside the court shouted as they watched the event live on a giant screen.
Mubarak, 84, was grim-faced and silent as Presiding Judge Ahmed Refaat handed down the life sentence.
His sons were, however, acquitted.
Mubarak, the first Arab leader to be tried in his own country, was ferried by helicopter away from the police academy where the trial was held to the Torah prison in Cairo where his sons and members of his regime have been either serving prison sentences or held pending trials over a variety of corruption charges.
Mubarak ruled with unchecked power for 29 years – an era stained by allegations of widespread corruption, police abuses and a strong grip on power by the ruling party.
Mubarak was charged with corruption and involvement in the deaths of hundreds of anti-government protesters during last year’s 18-day uprising that forced him to resign on February 11.
His conviction sends a powerful message to other political and military leaders in Egypt. It is seen as a big lesson to the country’s next president to ensure that he can no longer act with impunity.
Millions of people in Egypt and other countries watched the verdict on live television, including this Washington-based editor.
But the most populous Arab state is bitterly divided over him. Many believe that Egypt enjoyed peace under his 30-year rule. Others believe that under him, Egypt lost its status in the Middle East, and plunged into poverty and runaway corruption.
The verdict comes at a politically sensitive time, and is not expected to bring a defenitive end to Mubarak’s era.
Many Egyptians are deeply disappointed by the choice they now face as Egypt gears up for a presidential runoff slated for June 16-17.
It is between Islamist cadidate Mohamed Morsi and Mubarak’s close ally and last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.