CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison on Saturday after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year.
Also given a life term for the killings was Mubarak's former interior minister Habib al-Adly, while six former police commanders were acquitted.
Corruption charges against Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dropped due to the expiry of a statute of limitations.
Mubarak was acquitted in one of the corruption cases.
Scuffles broke out soon after the verdicts were delivered, and chants of "Void, void" and "The people want the judiciary purged" could be heard.
Lawyers inside the courtroom were furious over the acquittals, and told AFP they feared that Mubarak and Adly would be found innocent on appeal.
The former strongman, wearing dark classes and a beige tracksuit, showed no emotion as Judge Ahmed Refaat read out the sentence.
His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, looking tired with dark circles under their eyes, appeared close to tears on hearing the verdict.
Clashes erupted out outside the court following the sentencing, as police used stun grenades to control the crowds.
Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six others were on trial over their involvement in the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people killed during the uprising that toppled the strongman.
Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal and business associate Hussein Salem, who fled to Spain, were also on trial over an alleged bribe.
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Mubarak's verdict was a joke. Of course he will appeal and could have this ruling overturned. He might be exonerated or get a reduced sentence. Nevertheless a life sentence for an old, dying man has only symbolic value. How long more can a 84 year-old live? The aquittal of his two sons showed that Egypt's military still has its fingers in many pies.
Through all this he is still in his homeland Egypt, he never opted for a second nationality and a airplane on stand-by 24/7 . Says something about the man.
Here are a few words from the ruling of the court: Mr. Mubarak’s rule was “30 years of intense darkness — black, black, black, the blackness of a chilly winter night,” The state officials “committed the gravest sins, tyranny and corruption without accountability or oversight as their consciences died, their feelings became numb and their hearts in their chests turned blind.” “The peaceful sons of the homeland came out of every deep ravine with all the pain they experienced from injustice, heartbreak, humiliation and oppression.” “Bearing the burden of their suffering on their shoulders, they moved peacefully toward Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, demanding only justice, freedom and democracy.”
The ruling elite of Pakistan, no different from Mr. Mubarak had an easy way out.
I would not put any stock on Mubarak's conviction. I believe his trial was for show only, while Ahmed Shafik, his last prime minister has now become the preferred choice of the U.S., Israel, and the Egyptian military to succeed him!
Here is a question that begs for an answer in the Mubarak saga: "If Mubarak was found responsible for the killings of about 900 protesters, why his prime minister at the time, Ahmed Shafik, was not? It is obvious, therefore, that the Mubarak trial was a "public show" to placate the demonstrators, while behind the scenes the U.S. and the Egyptian junta have been grooming Mubarak's prime minister to replace him, and continue his legacy. I suspect that Mubarak will be acquitted on appeal for lack of evidence after the presidential elections, and I bet that the Egyptian Generals will continue to have the "final say" on where Egypt goes from here. The Mubarak era is not over in Egypt. It is just being re-crafted, re-configured, and retrofitted by the Egyptian Military around the U.S. and Israeli Middle East policies! I consider this process as the "re-packaging" of the Mubarak regime into "an Arab Spring box, and then re-selling it to the Egyptians!" Nikos Retsos, retired professor