CAIRO: The Cairo Emergency Court ordered on Thursday the removal of the names of Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne Mubarak from all squares, streets and institutions nationwide.
Lawyer Samir Sabry filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Essam Sharaf demanding that he remove Mubarak’s name from all state institutions.
The ruling will affect hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of subway stations, schools, streets, squares and libraries across the nation that over the years bore the name of the former leader or his wife.
Transport Minister Atef Abdel-Hameed reacted swiftly to the court’s ruling, telling reporters that he would move quickly to remove Mubarak’s name from the ministry’s facilities, including a major subway station at Ramses Square at the heart of Cairo.
In announcing the ruling, Judge Mohamed Hassan Omar said, "People have uncovered Mubarak’s journey of corruption that began at a parade stand and ended in Tahrir Square."
Omar was referring to the assassination of Mubarak’s predecessor Anwar Sadat in October 1981, after which Mubarak assumed power.
"It has become clear that the size of the corruption [under Mubarak] that’s being uncovered every day exceeds by far anyone’s imagination," said the judge.
People protesting in front of the court in front of Abdeen Court chanted "Long Live Egypt" and "Raise your head up high, you are Egyptian."
The lawsuit was based on the fact that the constitutional legitimacy is now replaced by the revolutionary legitimacy that calls for trying whoever contributed to corruption.
During an earlier hearing, hundreds of supporters and opponents of Mubarak clashed outside the court, pelting each other with rocks and water bottles. Several people were slightly injured in the clashes.–Additional reporting by Essam Fadl for Daily News Egypt.
