Interestingly Wikipedia has killed off Mubarak - no maybe deadthere!! #Egypt
6:17 PM - 19 Jun 12 via Twitter for iPhone · Details
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (Arabic: محمد حسني السيد مبارك, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mæˈħæmːæd ˈħosni ˈsæjjed moˈbɑːɾˤɑk],Muḥammad Ḥusnī Sayyid Mubārak; 4 May 1928 - 19 June 2012[2]); was an Egyptianpolitician and military commander. He served as thefourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Mubarak was appointed Vice President of Egypt in 1975, and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981, following the assassination of PresidentAnwar El Sadat. His almost thirty-year presidency made him Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha.[3] Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rising to the rank of air chief marshal.
Mubarak was ousted after 18 days of demonstrations during the 2011 Egyptian revolution[4]when, on 11 February, Vice President Omar Suleimanannounced that Mubarak had resigned as president and transferred authority to theSupreme Council of the Armed Forces.[5][6] On 13 April, a prosecutor[which?] ordered Mubarak and both his sons to be detained for 15 days of questioning about allegations of corruption and abuse of power.[7] He was then ordered to stand trial on charges ofpremeditated murder of peaceful protestors during the revolution.[8] These trials officially began on 3 August 2011.[9] Egypt’s military prosecutors then also proclaimed that they are investigating Mubarak's role in the assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat.[10][11] On 2 June 2012, Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian court, but has clinically died on 19 June 2012 before serving his sentence.[12][13]
Early life and Air Force career
Mubarak was born on 4 May 1928,[2] in Kafr El-Meselha, Monufia Governorate, Egypt. He was married to Suzanne Mubarak, and had two sons: Alaa, and Gamal. Upon completion of high school, he joined the Egyptian Military Academy, where he received a Bachelor's degree in Military Sciences in 1949.[citation needed] On 2 February 1949, Mubarak left the Military Academy and joined the Air Force Academy, gaining his commission as a pilot officeron 13 March 1950[14] and eventually receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation Sciences.
As an Egyptian Air Force officer, Mubarak served in various formations and units, including two years when he served in a Spitfire fighter squadron.[14]Some time in the 1950s, he returned to the Air Force Academy, this time as an instructor, remaining there until early 1959.[14] From February 1959 to June 1961, Mubarak undertook further training in the Soviet Union, attending a Soviet pilot training school in Moscow and another at Kant Air Base, nearBishkek in Kyrgyzstan (then a Soviet republic), an airfield that is today home to the Russian 5th Air Army's 999th Air Base.
Mubarak undertook training on the Ilyushin Il-28 and Tupolev Tu-16 jet bomber, and then joined the Frunze Military Academy in 1964. On his return to Egypt, Mubarak served in wing and then base commander appointments, taking up command of the Cairo West Air Base in October 1966 before briefly commanding the Beni Suef Air Base.[14] In November 1967, Mubarak became the Air Force Academy's commander when he was credited with doubling the number of pilots and navigators in the Air Force during the pre-October War years.[15] Two years later he became Chief of Staff for the Egyptian Air Force.
Mubarak became Commander of the Air Force and Egyptian Deputy Minister of Defence in 1972. In the following year his military career reached its pinnacle when he was promoted to Air Chief Marshal in recognition of service during the October War of 1973.[14][16] Mubarak was credited in some publications for Egypt's initial strong performance in the 1973 war against Israel.[17] The Egyptian analyst Mohamed Hassanein Heikal gave a different evaluation of the role of the Air Force in 1973 from that of Mubarak and his supporters. Heikal argued that the Air Force played a mostly psychological role in the war, providing an inspirational sight for the Egyptian ground troops that carried out the crossing of the Suez Canal, rather than for any military necessity.[18] The role of Mubarak was further disputed by Shahdan El-Shazli the daughter of the former Egyptian military Chief of Staff Saad el-Shazly. She alleged that Mubarak exaggerated his role in the 1973 war. In an interview with the Egyptian independent newspaper Almasry Alyoum (26 Feb 2011), El-Shazli claimed that Mubarak altered documents to take credit for the initial success of the Egyptian forces in 1973 from her father. She alleged that even photographs pertaining to the discussions in the military command room were altered, so that the pictures of Saad El-Shazli were erased and replaced by Mubarak. She stated she intends to take legal action.[19]
President of Egypt
During the assassination of President Sadat in October 1981 by soldiers led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli, Mubarak was one of the injured. Following Sadat's death, Mubarak became the fourth president of Egypt, and the chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP). He was the longest serving Egyptian president, his term lasting 29 years.
Egypt's return to the Arab League
Until Libya's suspension from theArab League at the beginning of the 2011 Libyan civil war, Egypt was the only state in the history of the organisation to have had its membership suspended, due to President Sadat's peace treaty with Israel. However, in 1989, eight years after Sadat's assassination, Egypt was re-admitted as a full member, and the League's headquarters were relocated to their original location inCairo.[25]
Gulf War of 1991
Egypt was a member of the allied coalition in the 1991 Gulf War, and Egyptian infantry were some of the first to land in Saudi Arabia to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Egypt's involvement in the coalition was deemed by the US government as crucial in garnering wider Arab support for the liberation of Kuwait.
In addition to further solidifying Egypt's central role in the Arab World, the participation of Egyptian forces brought financial benefits for the Egyptian government. Reports that sums as large as $500,000 per soldier were paid or debt forgiven were published in the news media. According to The Economist:
- "The programme worked like a charm: a textbook case, says the IMF. In fact, luck was on Hosni Mubarak's side; when the US was hunting for a military alliance to force Iraq out of Kuwait, Egypt's president joined without hesitation. After the war, his reward was that America, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, and Europe forgave Egypt around $14 billion of debt."[26]
Assassination attempts and governing style
According to the BBC, Mubarak survived six assassination attempts.[25] In June 1995 there was an alleged assassination attempt involving noxious gases and Egyptian Islamic Jihad while he was in Ethiopia for a conference of the Organization of African Unity.[27] Upon return Mubarak is said to have authorized bombings on Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, which by 1999 saw 20,000 persons placed in detention related to the revolutionary Islamic organizations.[citation needed] He was also reportedly injured by a knife-wielding assailant in Port Said in September 1999.[28]
In his early years in power, Mubarak greatly expanded the Egyptian State Security Investigations Service (Mabahith Amn ad-Dawla) and Central Security Forces (anti-riot and containment forces).[29] According to authorTarek Osman, the experience of seeing his predecessor assassinated "right in front of him" and his much longer military career than Presidents Nasser or Sadat may have instilled in him more focus and absorption with security than seemed the case with either of those heads of the Egyptian state. Mubarak sought advice and confidence not in "leading ministers," "senior advisors" or "leading intellectuals", but from his security chiefs—various "interior ministers, army commanders, and the heads of the ultra-influential intelligence services."[30]
Stance on the invasion of Iraq in 2003
President Mubarak spoke out against the 2003 Iraq War, arguing that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should have been resolved first. He also claimed that the war would cause "100 Bin Ladens."[31] However, as President he did not support an immediate US pull-out from Iraq as he believed it would lead to probable chaos.[32]
