Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to ‘life imprisonment’

Egypt, June 2, 2012

According to a court in Cairo the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of complicity in the killings of protesters during the uprising that ended his 30 years rule.

This is the first time an Arab leader deposed had faced a civil court, in person, since a wave of uprisings shook the Arab world last year.

The ruling came at a politically fraught time for Egypt, two weeks before a second round in their first free presidential elections that face the Muslim Brotherhood, which was prohibited by Mubarak, against the late Prime Minister of the deposed autocrat.

Mubarak remains in a hospital bed wearing dark glasses. In the court, he heard the verdict with a stony expression. In recent months, Mubarak was in a presidential suite at a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.

Physicians who treat him reported that his state is weak and lost weight because he refuses to eat, and also suffers from severe depression.