Egypt4u

The Egyptian court has just released former president Hosni Mubarak from further charges, he could be freed from prison today.

Here is the update:

Court orders Mubarak's release, to remain 48 hours in custody pending prosecution's appeal.

A Cairo criminal court accepted on Wednesday an appeal by former president Hosni Mubarak against a recent detention order he received, setting him free.

However, the court said Mubarak will be held for 48 hours to give the prosecution a chance to consider whether it will appeal the decision to release him or not.

A judicial source told Ahram Online that the proscution will probably not appeal the release order.

A team of judges from the Northern Cairo misdemeanour court arrived earlier on Wednesday to Tora Prison, where Mubarak is detained in hospital, to look into the appeal.

Mubarak, who has been on trial since August 2011, has now received release orders in all the cases in which he is investigated, for spending the maximum time in jail for a defendant pending trial. However, all trials are still ongoing.

On Wednesday, he was released pending investigations in a corruption case in which he is accused of illegally receiving millions of pounds worth of gifts from state-run publisher Al-Ahram.

Mubarak has recently reimbursed money equivalent to the value of the gifts to the state, which raised the possibility of him being released.

On Monday, he was released pending trial in one of the corruption charges he faces, drawing him closer to release as the number of charges decreases.

Mubarak is currently retried in a case for charges of complicity in the killing of over 800 protesters in the January 2011 uprising, after his appeal on a life sentence was accepted.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/79597.aspx

Welllllll hmmmmmmm......(insert big sigh here). I was only ever in Egypt during the time of Mubarak. I was IN Cairo near Tahrir Square when he came through. The military cleared the streets for him and all of us there - tourists included - where basically pushed into stores, buildings - anywhere to get us off the street so that Mubarak could come through safely, quickly with no impediment to his travel.

During the time I was in Egypt everything seemed orderly, prosperous, friendly. The day I went to see the pyramids I got there in the early afternoon and had to battle the tour buses to get up by the pyramids. The camel police were there end of day rounding up us tourists and ushering us all away. The touts yelled, called out and talked a blue streak....BUT - everybody, to me, seemed happy and ok.

Then the Arab Spring happened. Happened FAST from online sources with minimal planning (IMO) with no long term follow up plan for the country. Can't say I was at all optimistic about the outcome and I didn't believe Egypt would succeed. Am not particularly happy that my predictions came true.

As for Morsi - To me Morsi was never a good choice, too close to the MB and again everything I thought would happen has.

As for the future.......in retrospect I almost wish Mubarak had never been ousted. I would have much preferred an organized plan and process to effect change. This way change would have been SUSTAINABLE and Egypt could have avoided all the turmoil it is in now.

I would echo all of the above LLL and also add that to me the Egyptian revolution if you want to call it that came on the back of the so called 'Arab Spring' and seemed to be more a case of just jumping on the band waggon because everyone else was doing it, rather than a planned attempt to improve things.

LovelyLadyLux wrote: As for the future.......in retrospect I almost wish Mubarak had never been ousted. I would have much preferred an organized plan and process to effect change. This way change would have been SUSTAINABLE and Egypt could have avoided all the turmoil it is in now.

We were in Luxor in March LLL and that is exactly what Egyptian people, shopkeepers and the like were saying to us.

And like Horus, I would also echo your words as similar to our own experiences pre revolution.

But when it comes to long term plan there was none in January 2011 just as the West had no long term or exit plan when they bulldozed their way into Iraq in 2003. Is that country any better off now? I think not.

Countries of the middle east live with a different culture and history would tell us that they are better under a dictatorship. That doesn't mean that life is intolerable. If you simply get on with your life, and abide by the rules, life can be as good as in any western democracy.

Perhaps if Mubarak was ten years younger we would see him back in power now that the Egyptians have had a taste of 'democracy'???

Democracy is a state of mind in that if we think and believe we're free we are.......however.....are we really? I really really REALLY have more rules and regulations I MUST live by right down to how I dispose of my garbage.

In theory I get to be free and make my choices at election time. That is all good and well but what if my 'guy' doesn't get in? Guess my choices are then not being considered but does that make me less free than the person who voted for the guy who got in? How does having the elected official of our choice make our lives more free? We're "democratic" by virtue of using the word but I sometimes think that after we have to adhere to all the rules, regulations, policies (spoken and unspoken and written and unwritten), taxes and obligations foisted onto our lives we not 'free' at all. Am kinda thinking we'd all do better living under a benevolent Dictator who takes on all the burdens than having these burdens shared by us - in other words WE PAY for all the decisions our elected official make and they're not often the most prudent in the world.

Anyway - my bit of a rant.

If one looks at the history of Egypt they, as a society, have always had Dictator types and really the country didn't seem to be doing badly.

How many Egyptians in Luxor are burdened by heavy personal income taxes? Property taxes? And all the nitnoid payments we have to constantly make? If they made their money it was theirs and by and large the number of financial obligations they had was of their own choosing. Our financial obligations are NOT of our choosing but are in place for us to support our Democracy. Essentially, to me, they were far FREE-ER than we are.

The Arab Spring sprung from the power of the internet and crumbled a nation. I think IF we had some smarts about us we'd be looking at this and trying to figure out how to understand this phenomenon and how to control it before we get a UK is Busting Out All Over song going or seeing the USA Sashaying Down the Road.

I think a few strategically placed individuals on the internet were able to hijack a Government (Mubarak) under the promise of a whim (Arab Spring and a BETTER LIFE) with no planning, not much thought and a promise of greatness. Now an entire country is in turmoil, possibly on the brink of civil war (I hope the Military stays strong) with a crumbling economy that in the world of tourism will take literally years and years to recover. Who has this helped?

I agree entierly with your sentiments

Where is Mubarak? My understanding is he is free but is he really? I mean would I run into him on a Nile cruise? Is he now a tourist in the Nubian villages? Living on the French Riviera? Signing autographs in Tahrir? I haven't heard a word here since the announcement came he was released........

I thought I heard that after his release he would remain under house arrest pending further charges LLL. As he has not appeared in public I would guess that is the likely situation.

House arrest sounds reasonable. I thought that with all the Syria stuff happening and just the general crisis that happen continually in the USA I'd missed something.

Out of sight and out of mind applies to Mubarak - was just wondering if there was an update I'd missed. Course it wouldn't have surprised me either if you'd of said he was last seen sun tanning in Waikiki or

Sounds reasonable to me that he is still under house arrest. I was going on the "out of sight, out of mind" theory in that soon as something is old news you never hear about them or it again.

On the other hand I wouldn't have been surprised if you told me he was last seen heading up the IMF (well that really IS a stretch) but to have seen him sunning and tanning in a known resort wouldn't have surprised me