Mubarak trial dismissal means end of an era for Egypt

What does the decision in the case against the former president mean for the Egyptian revolution?

A protester reacts after hearing the verdict in the trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak outside a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo on November 29. Ahmed Abd El Latif / AP

CAIRO // Less than four years after Hosni Mubarak was forced from power by an uprising demanding “bread, freedom and social justice”, the former president was cleared of charges stemming from his 29-year rule and the deaths of hundreds of protesters who sought to end it.

The dismissal on Saturday of charges holding Mubarak culpable for many of those deaths, and his acquittal in a corruption case, are perhaps the clearest indicator yet that the 2011 revolution is truly over.

The judge, Mahmoud Al Rashidi, deemed that the 86-year-old former leader had erred as any human would and that he should not have been tried on criminal charges.

Rights activists immediately labelled the ruling a sham, linking it to what they see as the recreation of the Mubarak regime, albeit under the rule of former military chief Abdel Fattah El Sissi, who was elected president in a landslide this year.

They also linked the ruling to an alleged campaign by pro-government media to portray the January 25, 2011 uprising as the work of Egyptian agents paid by the West.

But the judge’s comments after passing judgment on Mubarak appeared to reflect the mood of most Egyptians these days: fatigued by the turmoil that followed his removal and more eager for a return to normality and economic opportunities than retribution for the victims of 2011.

The judge said that given Mubarak’s old age, he should not have stood trial on criminal charges and that the final verdict on the former president’s record should be left for “The Judge of Judges”, God.

Mubarak had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison over the protester deaths, but the 2012 ruling was overturned on appeal last year and a retrial was ordered that ended with Saturday’s verdict.

Significantly, Mubarak’s security chief, former interior minister Habib Al Adly, and six of his top commanders were also acquitted of involvement in the deaths of the protesters.

Mubarak was also acquitted of corruption charges he faced with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, over the statute of limitations.

The dismissal of the murder charges raised the question of who was behind the killings in the 18-day uprising and left in doubt whether the families of the victims will ever get justice for the lives of their loved ones. Already, dozens of police officers who have stood trial in connection with the killing of protesters have been acquitted for lack of evidence or on grounds of self-defence.

The reactions of Egyptians to Saturday’s ruling, delivered in a 45-minute hearing, reflected their mood. There were only small scenes of jubilation by Mubarak’s supporters outside the court, a lecture hall in a Cairo police academy that once carried his name, and the military hospital just south of the capital where he has been staying. The only reported scene of protest was a demonstration by some 200 youths near Cairo’s Tahrir Square chanting against military rule.

The secular and liberal opposition that spearheaded the 2011 uprising against Mubarak is no longer in a position to bring protesters out on the streets, with many of its leaders either jailed under a law adopted last year to govern street demonstrations, or having withdrawn from politics altogether.

The Muslim Brotherhood has, since the military’s removal of Mohammed Morsi, one of the group’s stalwarts, cited it as evidence of what it claims to be a campaign by the “counter-revolution” to roll back the gains of the 2011 uprising. It is likely to use Saturday’s verdict to back up that contention, but nearly 18 months after Mr Morsi’s removal and with most of the Brotherhood leaders in jail, the group has lost much of its strength.