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Post by artemis on Jul 28, 2011 9:11:50 GMT -5
"Official: Mubarak healthy enough for Cairo trial
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's health minister says ousted President Hosni Mubarak is healthy enough to be moved from a Sinai hospital to Cairo for his trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killings of protesters.
The minister, Amr Hilmy, has told reporters that a hall at Cairo's Conference Center is being prepared for the trial. But he says an appeals court still must make a final decision on the venue.
He says "Mubarak's health is in an appropriate condition to be tried in Cairo."
Mubarak is set to stand trial on Aug. 3. He has been under arrest at a hospital in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since soon after his Feb. 11 fall. Recent reports of failing health had raised the possibility of a delay or the holding of the court in Sharm el-Sheikh."
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Post by artemis on Aug 3, 2011 3:41:06 GMT -5
"Egypt's Mubarak at court to face historic trial
CAIRO (AP) — Former President Hosni Mubarak was brought by helicopter Wednesday to a Cairo court for the opening of his historic trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted him, as hundreds of his opponents and angry supporters scuffled outside.
In a chaotic scene outside the Cairo police academy where the court has been set up, hundreds of policemen in gleaming white uniforms and riot police with shields and helmets separated demonstrators hurling stones and bottles at each other.
It was a sign of the profound emotions stirred by the unprecedented prosecution of the man who ruled Egypt with unquestioned power for 29 years until he was toppled in February by an 18-day uprising. For many Egyptians, the trial is a chance at retribution for decades of oppressive rule in which opponents were tortured, corruption was rife, poverty spread and political life was stifled. But for others, he was a symbol of stability.
The trial is being aired live on state TV to an eager public. The courtroom itself is divided. The ailing 83-year-old Mubarak and his co-defendants — including his two sons and former interior minister — are to sit in a mesh cage on the left side of the chamber. Relatives of the defendants sat in rows of seats near the cage. A fence running through the middle of the chamber divided them from families of protesters killed in the uprising, kept far enough that they cannot shout or throw anything at the former leader.
Security was extremely heavy outside the courtroom, which has been set up in a lecture hall at what was once named the Mubarak Police Academy in the capital Cairo. Early in the morning, some 50 of Mubarak's supporters chanting slogans and holding portraits of the former leader gathered outside the venue.
"We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak," they screamed at hundreds of police and army troops backed by armored personnel carriers.
The pro-Mubarak protesters threw stones toward a giant screen set up outside the police academy, though a police cordon kept them a distance away.
For the president's opponents, it was an unbelieveable moment.
"I have many feelings. I am happy, satisified. I feel this a real success for the revolution, and I feel that the moment of real retribution is near," Mostafa el-Naggar, one of the leading youth activists who organized the anti-Mubarak uprising and a member of one of Egypt's newest parties, Justice, said after Mubarak's arrival at the venue.
"This is a moment no Egyptian ever thought was possible."
The trial answers, at least partially, a growing clamor in Egypt for justice not only for the wrongs of Mubarak's authoritarian regime but also for the violent suppression of largely peaceful protests during the 18-day uprising, in which 850 protesters were killed. It came only after heavy pressure by activists on the now ruling military — one of the few demands that still unites the disparate protest movement.
Days before giving up power, as protests raged around him, Mubarak vowed he would die on Egyptian soil. After his fall on Feb. 11, he fled to one of his residences in Sharm. In April, he was moved to a hospital there and placed under arrest as he underwent treatment. Doctors say he suffers from heart problems. There had been skepticism up to the moment Mubarak left the hospital for the airport in a six-car convoy that he would actually appear for the opening of his trial.
Mubarak, his former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, and six top police officers are charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the 850 protesters killed during the uprising, according to the official charge sheet. All eight could face the death penalty if convicted.
Separately, Mubarak and his two sons — one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa — face charges of corruption. The two sets of charges have been lumped together in one mass trial.
For weeks after his fall, while Mubarak lived in a palace in Sharm el-Sheikh, the ruling generals who took power from him — and who were all appointed by Mubarak before the uprising — appeared reluctant to prosecute him.
Their hand forced, the generals now seem eager to show the public that they are bringing the fruits of the revolution. The trial will be televised live on state TV, and judges say proceedings will be expedited, without long postponements. The around 600 people attending are expected to include relatives of some of the 850 protesters killed during the uprising.
Security is very heavy, with barbed wire and hundreds of troops around the compound. Efforts have been made to ensure spectators in the court can't get close enough to the defendants' cage to yell and throw objects at them, the Interior Ministry said.
Many Egyptians are eagerly anticipating the chance at retribution against the longtime ruler. But they also question whether the trial will truly break with the injustices of the past. Some worry that Egypt's new military rulers are touting the trial as proof that democratic reform has been accomplished, even as activists argue that far deeper change is still needed.
The prosecution is an unprecedented moment in the Arab world, the first time a modern Mideast leader has been put on trial fully by his own people.
The closest event to it was former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's trial, but his capture came at the hands of U.S. troops in 2003 and his special tribunal was set up with extensive consultation with American officials and international experts. Tunisia's deposed president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has been tried and convicted several times since his fall several weeks before Mubarak's, but all in absentia and he remains in exile in Saudi Arabia.
Up until Mubarak was moved from his hospital early Wednesday morning, there had been heavy skepticism that he would actually show. It was thought that he might be exempted for health reasons, after weeks of reports of his worsening condition from the Sharm hospital where he has been held in custody.
If he had not shown, it could have triggered another upheaval of rancorous protests.
For the military, the trial is a chance to try to strengthen its position.
The broader public has grown discontented with the breakdown in security around the country and faltering economy since the uprising began.
Youth groups that led the uprising have continued protests against the military, saying they are fumbling the transition to civilian rule and have not moved to dismantle remnants of Mubarak's regime still in place. The military itself has been tainted by reports of human rights violations, including torture.
The generals have tried to turn the public against activists, accusing them of receiving foreign funds and training. On Monday, tensions were hiked when troops broke up a 3-week-old sit-in in Tahrir Square by hard-core protesters.
Prosecuting Mubarak is widely popular among a public angered by widespread corruption, police abuses and his lock on political power. Regime opponents, whether Islamists or pro-democracy activists, are eager for retribution after years of crackdowns and torture against them.
The question is whether it will mean a real uprooting of the system he headed.
Mubarak was placed under arrest in April but was admitted to the Sharm hospital for a heart condition, sparing him the indignity of detention in Cairo's Torah Prison, where his sons and some three dozen former regime figures have been held.
Media reports have spoken of Mubarak refusing to eat and suffering from depression. On Monday, state television said the most recent tests showed his health was "relatively stable" given his age but that his psychological condition was worsening.
But Health Minister Amr Helmy said last week that Mubarak was fit to travel to Cairo to stand trial."
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Post by beatlies on Aug 4, 2011 10:42:28 GMT -5
Fubarak is on the front page-above fold of the New York Times today peering put wistfully from looks like an iron cage enclosing a white sheet-medical setting.
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Post by artemis on Aug 23, 2011 14:31:19 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Sept 8, 2011 13:31:06 GMT -5
"Mubarak in court after top officials called to testify
CAIRO (Reuters) - Hosni Mubarak was back in court on Thursday over the killing of protesters, a day after the presiding judge summoned Egypt's military ruler and other top officials to testify next week in the trial of the toppled ex-president.
The testimonies of such high-ranking officials could prove decisive in the case, although Judge Ahmed Refaat said when he announced the decision Wednesday that the witnesses would be heard behind closed doors for reasons of national security.
The court heard more witnesses Thursday. A senior interior ministry official said police were ordered to prevent protesters from reaching Tahrir Square during the uprising, even if it meant "by use of force."
A police officer told the court that police were armed in central Cairo and suggested the weapons were used against protesters. Defense lawyers said he was in no position to know.
The judge surprised the court Wednesday by saying Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council now ruling Egypt and served as Mubarak's defense minister for two decades, would appear in the witness box Sunday.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Sami Enan and Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former intelligence chief and briefly his vice-president, will also testify next week, alongside Interior Minister Essam el-Essawy and his predecessor Mahmoud Wagdy.
"The decision to summon Field Marshal Tantawi and the others is certainly a good thing, but the session has to be public in order to be fair," said Mohamed Adel, an activist with the April 6 movement which helped force out autocrat Mubarak in February.
"We have to see it, and the concept of a publishing ban and secrecy is totally rejected by us," he added.
State television said the prosecutor sent Tantawi and others official notices to attend the court.
Earlier this week, police witnesses suggested that neither Mubarak nor his former interior minister, Habib al-Adli, who is also in the dock, had ordered police to shoot. Two witnesses said they were told to exercise "self-restraint."
Lawyers for some of the 850 people killed in the revolt that ousted Mubarak on February 11 have been irked by police statements, saying officers changed their accounts when they were in court.
The judge dismissed a prosecution bid to raise a case against one witness for alleged false testimony.
'BY USE OF FORCE'
As in the four previous sessions since the trial started on August 3, Mubarak was flown to the court by helicopter and wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher. The 83-year-old has been hospitalized since April when he was first questioned.
Mubarak is charged with conspiring to kill protesters and "inciting" some police officers to use live ammunition, as well as with corruption. He has denied all charges.
A deputy interior minister, Hassan Abdel Hamid Farag, told the court Thursday he attended a meeting with the former interior minister and other police officers standing trial.
"The decision of the meeting was to prevent the protesters from entering Tahrir even if by use of force," he said. But he could not say if police were allowed to use firearms.
Officer Essam Hosni told the court a security plan was in place early in the uprising that erupted on January 25 to prevent protesters reaching Tahrir Square. He said police were armed with guns in central Cairo and elsewhere.
"The amount of arms available in central Cairo and in front of all the police stations and jails confirms that deaths and injuries were a result of the use of these weapons," he said.
Defense lawyers suggested he was not in a position to make his statements and was drawing conclusions. "The witness is basing his testimony on matters he heard," one said.
When asked by the judge, the former interior minister said: "All that the witness has said contradicts the truth."
Mubarak had no comment when asked by the judge.
The former president is standing trial with Adli, six police officers and his two sons, Gamal, who was once seen as being groomed for top office, and Alaa, a businessman."
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Post by artemis on Dec 28, 2011 4:33:37 GMT -5
"Egypt's Mubarak back in court as trial resumes
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak was brought back to a Cairo's courtroom on Wednesday for the resumption of his trial after a three months' break.
Mubarak has been charged with complicity in the deaths of nearly 840 protesters in the crackdown against a popular uprising, which forced him to step down on Feb. 11. He could face the death penalty if convicted but so far most of the testimonies, including from police officers, have distanced the former president from any orders to shoot at the protesters.
Egyptian TV showed footage of the 83-year-old Mubarak, covered by a green blanket and lying on a hospital gurney as he was brought from a helicopter and taken to an ambulance for a short ride to the courthouse Wednesday .
Mubarak has been under arrest in a hospital since April.
The trial started in August, with many in the country riveted by the sight of their ailing former ruler of nearly 30 years lying in a hospital bed inside the courtroom's cage, where defendants traditionally sit during trials in Egypt.
During early sessions, the trial was bogged down by frequent commotion and arguments in the courtroom between the defense and the lawyers representing the protesters. It also became harder for media to cover the proceeding after the judge imposed a ban with high ranking Egyptian officials summoned to testify.
In the last hearing in September, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads Egypt's ruling military council that took power after Mubarak's fall, gave his testimony under a total media blackout.
Journalists were barred from the court and forbidden to report any leaked details of Tantawi's testimony. Many believe Tantawi — who was Mubarak's defense minister for two decades — can address key question of whether Mubarak ordered the use of lethal force against protesters.
Next in line of witnesses whose testimony was demanded by both the prosecution and the defense is chief of staff Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Anan, the second-highest ranking official in the ruling military council.
As the proceedings started Wednesday, it was not clear whether Annan will be testifying.
Also on trial with Mubarak and facing the same charges are his former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six senior former security officials. Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, also face corruption charges.
The prosecution's case depends heavily on accounts of members of the former president's inner circle including ex-spy chief Omar Suleiman, who was appointed vice president by Mubarak during the uprising."
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Post by artemis on Jun 2, 2012 5:51:54 GMT -5
"Egypt's Mubarak gets life in prison
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for his role in the killing of protesters during last year's revolution that forced him from power, a verdict that caps a stunning fall from grace for a man who ruled the country as his personal fiefdom for nearly three decades.
The harsh sentence against the 84-year-old former leader appeared aimed at defusing tensions ahead of a divisive runoff presidential race that pits Mubarak's last prime minister against the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate.
Mubarak, the first Arab leader to be tried in his own country, remained silent inside court cage while his once-powerful sons appeared nervous and had dark circles under their eyes. His elder son Alaa whispered verses from the Quran.
The 84-year-old Mubarak was then ferried in a helicopter away from the police academy that was used by the court in Cairo.
Scuffles between Mubarak supporters and opponents broke out inside and outside the courtroom after the verdict was read, reflecting the deep polarization of the country since Mubarak was overthrown on Feb. 11, 2011.
Thousands of riot police cordoned off the building to prevent protesters and relatives of those slain during the uprising from getting too close. Hundreds stood outside, waving Egyptian flags and chanting slogans demanding "retribution." Some spread Mubarak's picture on the asphalt and walked over it.
Mubarak and his two sons — Gamal and Alaa — were acquitted on corruption charges, but the sons still faced a separate trial on charges of insider trading. Ex-interior minister Habib el-Adly also was sentenced to life for the protester killings. Six other security officials were acquitted.
Judge Ahmed Rifaat delivered a strongly worded statement before handing down the sentences. Mubarak, who wore sunglasses and a light brown jacket over his clothes, and his co-defendants were in an iron cage.
Rifaat described Mubarak's era as "30 years of darkness" and "a darkened nightmare" that ended only when Egyptians rose up to demand change.
"They peacefully demanded democracy from rulers who held tight grip on power," the judge said.
Rifaat, who was presiding over his last court session before he retires, said Mubarak and el-Adly did not act to stop the killings during 18-day days of mass protests that were met by a deadly crackdown of security forces on unarmed demonstrators. More than 850 protesters were killed, most shot to death, in Cairo and other major cities.
Mubarak's verdict came just days after presidential elections have been boiled down to a June 16-17 contest between Mubarak's last prime minister, one-time protege Ahmed Shafiq, and Mubarak's top foe, a Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi."
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Post by artemis on Jun 19, 2012 16:34:20 GMT -5
"Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dies
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead according to media reports. He was 84.
Mubarak ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years, steering the nation through the turmoil that swept a Middle East buffeted by wars, terrorism and religious extremism. But the war hero and savior of his country died as a criminal convicted for his role in the deaths of those fighting to oust him.
He suffered a stroke on Tuesday, and a defibrillator was used in prison before he was taken to Toura Prison Hospital hospital in Cairo, Agence France-Presse reported.
Mubarak's health had been failing since he was sentenced to life in prison on June 2, after he was convicted of failing to prevent the killing of protesters in a February 2011 uprising against his rule.
Doctors at the prison hospital used a defibrillator twice on June 11 after they could not find a pulse on the deposed leader. An AP story at the time said Mubarak "was slipping in and out of consciousness, was suffering from high blood pressure and breathing difficulties, and was in a deep depression, according to security officials at the prison."
More details on his death or funeral arrangements are not yet available.
The son of a low-level bureaucrat in the Nile Delta, Mubarak completed Egypt's three-year military academy in two years and rose quickly through the ranks of the Egyptian air force, according to a 2011 profile in the Washington Post.
He was tapped as Egyptian vice president in 1975 and thrust into the presidency at 53 on Oct. 6, 1981, when Islamist radicals gunned down then President Anwar Sadat at a military parade.
Mubarak himself survived six assassination attempts. He won four terms in single-candidate referendums and easily carried off the first contested election in 2005.
During his presidency, Mubarak was a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, a stalwart against the West's Islamist enemies, even joining the 1999 invasion of Iraq. He was also able to rebuild relationships with neighboring countries that were strained after Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Mubarak kept the peace with Israel while keeping Egypt free from Islamic militarism. On Nov. 17, 1997, an Islamic militant group killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians at an ancient temple near Luxor. Reuters called it the "most dramatic act in a 1990s rebellion by Islamists seeking to establish an Islamic state." The revolt was eventually crushed by state security.
The Washington Post profile noted:
Mubarak valued stability above all else—and assumed the vast majority of Egyptians shared that perspective. Egypt was a nation, he would argue, that depended millenniums ago on central authority to organize the harvest and mobilize the resources to build the pyramids—and that still needed the same sort of unyielding management to avoid sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians or infiltration by terrorists.
His relationship with the West also earned Egypt tens of billions of dollars in U.S. military and foreign aid over Mubarak's term. The money helped rebuild the country's crumbling infrastructure and invigorate its armed forces.
However, his legacy was mixed.
Efforts to groom his son Gamal as a successor ultimately stoked popular anger and suspicion that the spoils of government and economic growth would be steered to a favored clique for another generation, the Post reported.
While the country's economy is much improved and the financial markets and infrastructure have been modernized, "the country still struggles with high unemployment, rampant corruption, residual state controls and growing demands for basic services from an ever-burgeoning population," the paper reported.
Mubarak's political downfall began in January 2011 when anti-government protests began across Egypt, driven by discontent over poverty, repression and corruption. He ordered troops to quell the demonstrations.
On Feb. 10, 2011, he transferred his power to Vice President Omar Suleiman. Mubarak refused to step down, however, igniting protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Mubarak stepped down the following day and a military council took control of the country.
"This will be the land of my living and my death," Mubarak said in that final address as president. "It will remain a dear land to me. I will not leave it nor depart it until I am buried in the ground."
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Post by artemis on Sept 22, 2012 17:32:57 GMT -5
"Egypt's chief forensic doctor says Mubarak is well
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's chief forensic doctor told a state-run newspaper in an interview published Saturday that Hosni Mubarak has never suffered a stroke and that he is not in critical condition, contradicting earlier medical reports that the former president's health was deteriorating.
For months, there have been conflicting reports about the health of the 84-year old Mubarak, who was sentenced in June to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of hundreds of protesters during last year's uprising. He is the first Arab president to serve a prison sentence.
While he was in power, Mubarak's health was treated almost as a state secret. But since his ouster some 20 months ago, Mubarak's supporters have released details of his allegedly failing health in what critics say is an attempt to curry sympathy from the public and appeal for leniency from the courts.
Less than three weeks after he was convicted and sent to Cairo's Tora prison, Mubarak was abruptly transferred to a military hospital amid reports that his heart had stopped beating. The state news agency said at the time that Mubarak had suffered a stroke. He returned to prison a month later.
Ihsan Kameel Gorgy, Egypt's chief forensic doctor, told the Al-Ahram daily that the prosecutor general asked him to put together a medical team to check on Mubarak's health after he was transferred to the military hospital.
Gorgy said he led a team of forensic doctors during two check-ups on the former president, one at the military hospital and the other at Tora prison. Gorgy said Mubarak only had low blood pressure and dizziness from standing up too quickly.
He also dismissed reports presented by Mubarak's private doctor which said the former leader had suffered a series of strokes after returning to prison. Gorgy said medical reports showed that Mubarak has never suffered a stroke.
He also dismissed claims by Mubarak's doctor that the aging former leader suffered a pulmonary embolism, or a blocked artery of the lungs.
Gorgy said that after conducting his own check-up on Mubarak, that there was no indication that the former president had any difficulty breathing and that he did not need a respirator.
"He does not need to be transferred to another hospital," Gorgy told the paper.
Mubarak's lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, angrily dismissed Gorgy's reports, accusing him of lying and hiding facts about Mubarak's health. El-Deeb said he will complain to the prosecutor general about Gorgy's comments to the media, saying they constitute a breach of patient privacy.
Mubarak's family and lawyers have appealed a decision by the prosecutor general to return Mubarak to prison, complaining of poor facilities and mistreatment."
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Post by artemis on Dec 19, 2012 16:18:12 GMT -5
"Egypt: deposed President Mubarak transferred to a Cairo military hospital after head injury
CAIRO - An Egyptian security official says ousted president Hosni Mubarak has been transferred to a Cairo military hospital, after slipping and injuring his head and chest in prison.
For months, there have been conflicting reports about the health of the 84-year old Mubarak, who was sentenced in June to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of hundreds of protesters during last year's uprising. He is the first Arab president to serve a prison sentence.
Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim, the deputy interior minister, said Wednesday that Mubarak will be returned to prison after treatment.
Mubarak fell in the prison bathroom on Saturday. The hospital is located in a Cairo suburb of Maadi. Mubarak's family and lawyer appealed to authorities to keep him in the hospital, citing prison poor facilities."
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Post by artemis on Dec 27, 2012 14:47:18 GMT -5
"Egypt's Mubarak moved to army hospital on health concerns
CAIRO (Reuters) - Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian strongman ousted last year after 30 years in power, was moved to an army hospital from a prison hospital on Thursday following a fall that raised fresh concerns about his fragile health.
Mubarak, 84, was forced out in a 2011 uprising and sentenced to life in prison in June of this year for his role in killing protesters during the revolt. He was admitted to a prison hospital that month following what security officials called a "health crisis".
Mubarak's health has been the subject of intense speculation in Egypt and he has spent much of the time before and after his trial in the prison hospital.
His lawyer said he was transferred to the military hospital after fracturing a rib in the fall in his prison clinic. He said he also suffered from lung complications and dizziness.
"The health condition is deteriorating to some extent due to the president's fall the week before last," lawyer Mohamed Abdel Razek told Reuters.
Mubarak is to be treated at the military hospital in Cairo's Maadi suburb. "He will stay for awhile," a security source told Reuters.
Mubarak's legal team had been pressing to have him moved from the prison hospital to a better-equipped facility, saying he was not receiving adequate treatment.
There has been no clarity, however, on the exact nature of any of his ailments, with state media reporting a variety of illnesses ranging from shortage of breath to heart attacks and comas.
On July 16 Mubarak was sent back to prison on the orders of the former public prosecutor who said his health had improved and he no longer needed the advanced care of the military hospital where he had been moved in June.
At the time, senior officers and military sources gave various accounts of Mubarak's condition, including that he was in a coma and on life support.
The fate of his family, accused by Egypt's new rulers of accumulating vast wealth illegally during Mubarak's long reign, is also the subject of much speculation.
Public prosecutor Talaat Abdallah has agreed to a request from Egypt's illicit gains authority investigating corruption to confiscate funds from two bank accounts belonging to Mubarak's wife Suzanne and move them to the central bank, the MENA news agency said.
The state newspaper al-Ahram said the amount to be confiscated was 27 million Egyptian pounds ($4.4 million). In May 2011 Suzanne Mubarak was released from detention on graft accusations and relinquished some of her assets to the state.
Mubarak's two sons are also being held in prison, facing trial on graft charges, which they deny."
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Post by artemis on Apr 13, 2013 5:59:47 GMT -5
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