CAIRO: A number of political groups hailed on Wednesday the detention of former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons for 15 days pending further investigations.
Mubarak and his sons, Alaa and Gamal, have been accused of corruption, profiteering, misuse of power and public funds and the acquisition of commissions for facilitating business deals.
“Based on the Egyptian penal code, if proven guilty of the corruption charges against them, Hosni, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak could be handed down from three to 10-year sentences,” Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession told Daily News Egypt.
On Tuesday night, Mubarak was taken to a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh because of heart troubles, and so that his health could be monitored as he submitted to the first round of questioning by investigators. Hours later, the public prosecutor announced early Wednesday that Mubarak was ordered put under detention for 15 days for investigation. He was to be flown later in the day to a military hospital outside Cairo, where he would remain in detention, a security official in Sharm el-Sheikh said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Soon after the hospitalization Tuesday night and in a sign that his ailment might not be very serious, Justice Minister Mohamed El-Gindi said Mubarak was then questioned in his suite for his role in the violence against protesters. The ministry statement on Facebook said Mubarak’s lawyers and a medical team were present during the interrogation. Mubarak has a history of minor ailments and underwent gallbladder surgery in Germany in March last year, when he also had a small growth on his intestine removed.
While the ex-president was taken to the hospital in Sharm El-Sheikh, where he has been living since being removed from power, his sons were taken for questioning to the nearby courthouse.
An angry crowd of 2,000 people had gathered outside the hospital late Tuesday, demanding the sons’ arrest. Then, in the early hours Wednesday, head of provincial security in the South Sinai told the crowd that Gamal and Alaa would be detained.
"Brothers, whatever you wanted, you have got … 15 days," said Maj. Gen. Mohammed El-Khatib, as the crowd erupted in cheers.
As a police van with drawn curtains took away the brothers, the crowd pelted it with water bottles, stones and their flip-flops, as a sign of contempt.
Abel-Halim Qandil, ex-head of the Egyptian Kefaya Movement for Change and editor-in-chief of weekly independent Sawat El-Umma newspaper told DNE that their arrest was overdue.
“But at least the move was finally taken thanks to the persistence of the [January 25] Revolution masses and the pressure they exerted on the army, especially during the last two Friday protests [in Tahrir Square],” Qandil added.
The April 6 Youth Movement welcomed the move, but wished it could have been taken earlier.
“We highly welcome this decision and we hope that this state of transparency will continue to hold accountable all corrupt former officials,” the movement’s general coordinator Ahmed Maher told DNE.
Abdel-Geleel Moustafa, general coordinator of the National Association for Change (NAC), praised the army and the Ministry of Justice for taking the necessary measures against the Mubaraks.
“These arrests came as a positive response to the initial demands of the revolution…being late in [taking action] is better than nothing,” Moustafa told DNE.
Nabil Abdel-Fatah, deputy director of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, believed that the delay in arresting Mubarak had to do with him being a former member of the military institution.
“There are some customs in this respect among armed forces commanders,” Abdel-Fatah told DNE.
At the same time, he added, the counter revolution and the recent audio recording broadcast on Al-Arabiya news channel where he threatened to file lawsuits against his critics stirred confusion over his current status.
“Some suspected that he had an impact on running the country…as well as being behind the counter revolution,” Abdel-Fatah argued.
Mahmoud ordered the interrogation of the three men only 20 minutes after Mubarak attempted to clear his name and his family’s name.
“This audio message may have speeded up his detention,” Abdel-Fatah said.
While Alaa and Gamal Mubarak have already arrived at Tora prison, handcuffed, at about 6 am on Wednesay, the former president remained in Sharm El-Sheikh international hospital under heavy guard until his condition stabilizes after suffering from a mild heart attack on Tuesday during his interrogation.
Official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported citing a hospital source that Mubarak’s health condition is “unstable” and that he is currently under observation.
Mubarak and his two sons have also been accused of involvement in the killing and injuring peaceful demonstrators during the protests held on Jan. 25 and the following days.
The first days of the anti-regime protests witnessed violent clashes between security forces and demonstrators, leaving more than 680 dead and over 6,000 wounded, some seriously, according to human rights groups and official reports.
“In case they turn out to be behind the premeditated murder of protesters, they may be sentenced to death or at least to 25 years in prison,” he added.
Vice President of the Cassation Court Ahmed Mekky told DNE that in some cases, a judge may consider the medical condition of a defendant while deciding a verdict.
“But it all depends on the judge’s assessment of the situation,” he said.
A lawyer had earlier filed a suit against Mubarak accusing him of high treason, a charge, not applicable to Mubarak’s case, according to Mekky.
“High treason is a political charge that can only be pressed by parliament,” Mekky said.
On Saturday, the US-based Washington Post reported that the Prosecutor General notified the United States and other governments around the world that Mubarak and his family may have hidden hundreds of billions of dollars worth of cash, gold and other state-owned valuables.
According to The Washington Post, the 12-page document presented by Mahmoud, written in Arabic and titled “Request for Judicial Assistance,” is intended to provide the legal basis under civil law to recover assets belonging to the Egyptian people.
Mahmoud wrote in the document that Mubarak and his sons may have violated laws prohibiting the “seizure of public funds and profiteering and abuse of power,” using complex business schemes to divert the assets to offshore companies and personal accounts, the report said.
The sum of the assets alleged to be appropriated by the Mubarak family — more than $70 billion — far exceeds earlier estimates and might be wildly exaggerated, the report added. Previous figures for the amount allegedly appropriated by the Mubaraks range from $5 to $70 billion.
“The process of repatriating the money of Mubarak’s family is a national cause rather than a criminal case,” Qandil said.
The detention of the Mubaraks was the latest in a series of arrests of former regime officials and businessmen over corruption charges.
On Monday, former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was remanded in custody on charges of squandering public funds.
The ex-president’s younger son, Gamal, a former banker and Mubarak’s heir-apparent, invaded the political scene in Egypt in 2000, when he was suddenly appointed to head the powerful policies committee of then ruling National Democratic Party.
Alaa Mubarak, a businessman, on the other hand, rarely appeared in public. Rumors indicated he used his father’s position to co-opt businessmen into partnering with them without any contributions on his part. –Additional reporting by AP.
File phot of Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
