Egypt: Ex-President Hosni Mubarak Dies Aged 91

Egypt’s ousted President Hosni Mubarak has died in Cairo at the age of 91.

Hosni Mubarak spent three decades in office before being ousted by the military in 2011.

The former president was found guilty of complicity in the killing of protesters during the revolution. That conviction was overturned and was freed in March 2017.

Hosni Mubarak’s death was confirmed by Egyptian state news on February 25. Earlier in the day, the Al-Watan website reported that he died at a military hospital.

He underwent surgery in late January and was photographed with his grandson as he recovered.

On February 23, however, Hosni Mubarak’s son Alaa said that the former president remained in intensive care.

Born in 1928, Hosni Mubarak entered the air force as a teenager and went on to play a key role in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

He became president less than a decade later, following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, and played a key role in the Israel-Palestinian peace process.

However, despite the billions of dollars in military aid Egypt received during his time in office, unemployment, poverty and corruption continued to grow.

Discontent boiled over in January 2011, after similar protests in Tunisia led to the overthrow of the president there. Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down 18 days later.

Just over a year after Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow, Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist politician, won Egypt’s first democratic presidential election.

Mohamed Morsi lasted less than a year in office. Amid mass protests, he was ousted in a military coup led by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

General Sisi went on to win two presidential elections. Mohamed Morsi died in prison in 2019.

In 2012, Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment over the deaths of some of the 900 protesters who were killed by security forces during the uprising a year earlier.

He and his two sons were also convicted of corruption.

However, the more serious charges against Hosni Mubarak were later overturned and he was released in 2017.