REUTERS
A vendor stands next to pictures of Arab leaders at his stall, during a sit-in at Tahrir Square after a court sentenced deposed president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison in Cairo on Monday, June 4, 2012.
Cairo - The mixed verdict in Hosni Mubarak’s trial on Saturday is a painful reminder that 15 months after the Egyptian leader’s removal from power, there has been no move to bring about full accountability for wrongdoing.
Mubarak, 84, and his ex-security chief Habib el-Adly were convicted of failing to stop the killings of about 900 protesters during last year’s uprising and were sentenced to life in prison. However, six top police commanders were acquitted of ordering the killings because of a lack of evidence.
Yesterday, lawmakers presented to parliament a “revolutionary justice” bill drawn up by rights activists that would create special courts to try members of Mubarak’s regime for crimes including torture and corruption.
Egypt’s judiciary had done “as little as possible” to hold the old regime accountable since Mubarak was toppled in February last year, said Shadi Hamid, director of research for Brookings Doha Centre.
“They had to sentence Mubarak as a political concession to mass opinion,” he said, adding that the convictions could be overturned by an appeals court free of political influence. – Sapa-AP, Reuters
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