By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt with an iron fist for almost 30 years.
But nearly four years after a popular revolution forced him to step down, an Egyptian court dismissed charges against the ex-dictator related to the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power.
Although not surprising, it was the latest blow to the country's justice system.
"The court’s decision to dismiss the murder charges against him on a technicality while thousands are jailed for peacefully protesting is a fresh slap in the face of every Egyptian who believed that their revolution would hold the most powerful to account," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East & North Africa director for Human Rights Watch.
On Saturday, a court in Cairo dropped the case against Mubarak on charges of conspiring in the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising in February 2011.
Seven of his top security aides, including feared ex-interior minister Habib al-Adly, were also cleared of ordering the murder of the anti-regime protesters during the unrest that saw mass demonstrations and sit-ins across the country.
According to Whitson, the failed prosecutions against Mubarak and his officials showed the dire need for an independent body to investigate the old regime's wrongdoings, "since Egypt's prosecutors and judges have shown little appetite or ability to hold any official accountable.”
"Transitional justice in Egypt is now a shambles, and the authorities should recognize that this lack of accountability only breeds further unrest," she said.
Mubarak and his interior minister were sentenced to 25 years in prison in late 2012 for ordering the murder of demonstrators during the uprising, but the court later ordered a retrial after the former president's lawyers successfully appealed the sentence.
Many Egyptian pro-democracy activists believe Saturday's verdict completes the old regime comeback process, which began with the July 2013 military coup that ousted the country’s first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi after only one year in office.
The army-backed authorities have launched a massive crackdown on dissent since Morsi's ouster, handing down death sentences for hundreds of Morsi supporters.
Former army chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, widely seen as the architect of Morsi's ouster and imprisonment, was elected president in May.
"For many, the acquittal of Hosni Mubarak will be seen as the final nail in the coffin for the independence and impartiality of Egypt’s criminal justice system," according to Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East & North Africa.
She said a pattern of "selective justice" since Morsi's ouster in July 2013 resulted in security forces responsible for human rights violations largely escaping prosecution.
"Far from an independent and impartial body able to provide a remedy for abuses, the judicial system has become part of the machinery of repression," she said.
The removal of all charges against Mubarak dealt the "final blow" to what remained of the Arab Spring in the Arab world's most populous nation, said Ebrahim Moosa of the University of Notre Dame, referring to the wave of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that took place in the Middle East and North Africa beginning in 2010, challenging some of the region’s most entrenched authoritarian regimes.
"It is also a dangerous moment for Egypt and a volatile region, since the latest move has already elicited anger and dissatisfaction on Egypt’s streets. While the regime of Gen. Sisi can suppress dissent in the short term, the political process in the country itself is at risk and anything unexpected can happen," Moosa said.
The ruling has already invited the ire of many Egyptians with some relatives of the slain protesters taking to the streets to protest the autocrat's acquittal.
Two people were killed late Saturday during a protest near iconic Tahrir Square, the center of protests in 2011.
"However, it is not surprising that the charges against Mubarak was dropped since the prosecutorial process from the get-go was a flawed one and was initiated by Mubarak appointed prosecutors," Moosa said.
Egypt's prosecutor general appealed the decision Tuesday, citing flaws in the ruling.
The appeal will be submitted to the Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appellate court, and a second trial will be ordered if the appeal is accepted, according to Egyptian law.
www.aa.com.tr/en
