Mubarak hit by ‘health crisis’ after guilty verdict

DHAKA: Deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak suffered ‘a health crisis’ on Saturday upon arrival at prison after he was sentenced to life in prison over the killing of protesters in the uprising against his rule, state television reported.

‘Mubarak was afflicted by a health crisis upon his arrival at Torah Prison and is being treated in the helicopter’, the report said, quoting a medical source, referring to the helicopter that transferred him to the jail.

An Egyptian judge convicted Mubarak of complicity in the killings of protesters during the uprising that ended his 30-year rule.

It was the first time a deposed Arab leader had faced an ordinary court in person since a wave of uprisings shook the Arab world last year, sweeping away four entrenched rulers.

The ruling came at a politically fraught time for Egypt, two weeks before a run-off in its first free presidential election that will pit the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak, against the deposed autocrat`s last prime minister.

Mubarak, propped up on a hospital stretcher and wearing dark sunglasses, heard the verdict with a stony expression. He had been wheeled into the cage used in Egyptian courtrooms, while the other defendants stood.

Demonstrators outside the court, many of whom had been demanding the death penalty for Mubarak, greeted the verdict with fireworks and cries of ‘Allahu akbar (God is great)’.

Soha Saeed, the wife of one of about 850 people killed in the street revolt that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011, shouted: ‘I’m so happy. I’m so happy’.

Some people inside the court who had wanted a death sentence scuffled with guards, decrying the Mubarak-era judiciary.

‘The people want the judiciary cleansed!’ they chanted.

BDST: 1934 HRS, JUN 2, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor