person:hosni mubarak

Egypt threatens Hamas with military response to Sinai attacks - Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.548863

Egypt has warned of a military response if Hamas or other Palestinian groups try to violate Egyptian security, increasing tension over what Cairo says is support from Gaza for Islamist militants operating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt’s army says militants from Hamas-run Gaza have staged joint attacks with hardline Islamists in North Sinai, where the government has ramped up security operations after a surge of violence set off by President Mohamed Morsi’s downfall in July.

Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy told the London-based newspaper al-Hayat there was “tension” in Cairo’s relationship with Hamas, an ideological offshoot of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. He suggested Hamas was not helping enough to secure the border.

The Sinai militants expanded into a security vacuum that emerged after president Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising in 2011.

“If Hamas proves through actions and not words - and unfortunately there are many negative indicators - its good intentions, then it will find an Egyptian party that ... protects the Palestinian side,” Fahmy said.

“If we feel that there are parties in Hamas or other parties trying to violate Egyptian national security, our response will be severe,” said Fahmy, foreign minister in the army-installed cabinet that came to office after Morsi was deposed by the army.

Asked whether any response would include a closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Fahmy said: “Options are military-security, and not options that result in suffering for the Palestinian citizen.”

The Rafah crossing is the only way in and out of Gaza not controlled by Israel, with which Egypt made peace in 1979.

Fahmy did not elaborate on what kind of military action Cairo might take.

Hamas has denied Egypt’s accusations. A spokesman for the Hamas government said Fahmy’s comments “contradicted Egypt’s history and role in protecting the Palestinian nation.”

Fahmy said: “There are very many flaws in the Hamas relationship with the former (Morsi) regime, and the relationship of Hamas, or other Palestinian Islamist parties, with terror activity in Sinai.”

Morsi, deposed on July 3 after mass protests against his rule, is being investigated on accusations of conspiring with Hamas when he escaped from prison during the uprising against Mubarak.

Egypt’s army spokesman said at a Sept. 15 briefing the military was clearing buildings deemed a security threat at a distance of up to one km (0.6 miles) from the Gaza border.

The spokesman declined to accuse Hamas directly of attacks, although he said hand grenades stamped with the name of the Palestinian group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, had been found in the security sweep under way in Sinai.

Mubarak fired the first shots of the Yom Kippur war - Telegraph

▻http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/10322814/Mubarak-fired-the-first-shots-of-the-Yom-Kippur-war.html

The ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was the Air Force commander in 1973, said he personally flew a fighter jet and attacked an Israeli communications base. The attack took place six minutes before the major surprise assault by the Egyptian and Syrian armies began.

The former President said his role was completely secret, known to only three other people, including former President Anwar Sadat. Five years after the war, Sadat signed the peace treaty with Israel which still remains to this day.
(...)
Mubarak’s comments, made before his release in August 2013, seem geared to bolstering his image in Egypt as a leader who stood up to both Israel and the United States. A previous transcript of a recording published in Egypt in June states that Mubarak challenged US President Barack Obama, who pressed him to give up power during the 2011 uprisings.

Mubarak trial on 2011 protester deaths resumes in #Egypt
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/mubarak-trial-2011-protester-deaths-resumes-egypt

An Egyptian court on Saturday resumed the trial of toppled dictator #Hosni_Mubarak, who is accused of complicity in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising against his rule. State television broadcast footage of Mubarak appearing in the court in a wheelchair. He was dressed in a jacket, striped shirt and wearing dark sunglasses. It was his second appearance in the court since his release from Cairo’s Tora prison last month. read (...)

#Top_News

La détention de Mohamed Morsi prolongée de 30 jours

▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/81497/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-Morsi-slapped-with-fresh--days-detention.aspx

Egypt’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi was given a further 30 days’ detention on Friday pending investigations into charges of involvement in prison breaks during the 2011 uprising, as well as espionage.

Morsi, who has been detained by the military since his ouster in July, is accused of collaborating with Hamas to orchestrate his escape from Wadi Al-Natroun prison in 2011 during the uprising against Hosni Mubarak, as well as destroying police records during the uprising. In addition, he faces charges of espionage, and of attacking police stations with the intent to kill and abduct police officers and prisoners during the uprising.

Morsi’s chief of staff Refaa El-Tahtawi was given fresh 15 days’ detention pending investigation on the same charges of espionage. El-Tahtawi, who had been given a previous 15 day detention period, is accused of misusing his authority under Morsi to “release important information.”

Morsi, along with dozens of other members of the Muslim Brotherhood, escaped from prison during the 2011 revolution that toppled his predecessor Hosni Mubarak. The Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah groups have been accused of aiding in the plot to attack prisons, resulting in the release of inmates.

Most of the Brotherhood’s top leaders are currently detained on charges of inciting violence during recent or past clashes.

Mubarak Is Released
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/mubarak-released

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by an uprising against 30 years of injustice, poverty, and marginalization, has been released from prison. The law set him free, claiming to be independent. However, the same law neglects some cases and opens others according to the whims of the ruler.

Rappel - Info du 4 avril 2013
Egypte : un incendie détruit tous les documents concernant les meurtres de protestataires durant le printemps arabe
►http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/04/Fire-put-out-in-Cairo-court-building.html

The incident has been labeled as suspicious by Egyptian Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki who spoke to Al Arabiya.
Abbas said some of the legal cases that the court was handling included Hosni Mubarak’s alleged role in the killing of protesters. The “Battle of the Camel” incident, that saw heavy violence in central Cairo on Feb. 2, 2011 and other cases. He added that trials in some of the cases would be moved to the new Zeinhom Court.
Egyptian Civil Defense Forces managed to put out the fire and an investigation into the incident has been launched.
Mekki noted that the fire should speed up the process of digitizing lawsuit documents.
“The ministry is serious in achieving this project, and the electronic lawsuits will become a reality in Egypt by October 1st, when we will have a digital original of every legal document used in lawsuits.”
(...)
The incident came amid simmering tensions between political factions in the country, with the ruling Islamists bent on eradicating what they often call “remnants” of the old regime from the public administration and positions of power.
.

#justice #Egypte #Moubarak #Morsi

Fear returns to Egypt as state crackdown widens | Reuters

►http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/us-egypt-protests-fear-idUSBRE97K0Z220130821

A climate of fear that kept Egyptians compliant during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is creeping back into daily life, less than three years after the revolt that toppled him.

#Egypte #dictature #peur #violence

Constitution committee’s draft unfavorable to Islamists |
Mada Masr
21st of August
▻http://www.madamasr.com/content/constitution-committees-draft-unfavorable-islamists

A sign of significant change in terms of parliamentary representation can be seen in the committee’s decision to return to the single candidate system during elections, reversing the rules whereby two thirds of parliament’s seats were granted to party lists and a third to individual candidates. Egypt saw the first parliamentary elections using this system in November 2011, which resulted in a 70 percent victory for Islamists, who, in turn, were able to select the 100 lawmakers who drafted the 2012 Constitution. 

A return to the single candidate system represents the return to the electoral norms during the rule of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. It has been criticized for being associated with large families in Upper and Lower Egypt being able to exert control and influence over the electoral process. Islamists, instead, relied on electoral lists to gather enough votes in a parliament, where its party representation was quite strong. 

The article in the suspended constitution stipulating the political exclusion of members of the formerly ruling National Democratic Party for a period of 10 years, has been removed by the committee. This arguably reflects an interest in the return of former regime figures either through the single candidate system or through their inclusion in political parties, particularly the liberals among them.

Fear returns to Egypt as state crackdown widens | Reuters
►http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/us-egypt-protests-fear-idUSBRE97K0Z220130821

A climate of fear that kept Egyptians compliant during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is creeping back into daily life, less than three years after the revolt that toppled him.

...

While activists critical of the army-backed government are obvious targets for intimidation, now ordinary Egyptians also avoid the noisy, boisterous discussion of politics that was common between the fall of Mubarak and that of his Islamist successor on July 3.

...

A muted public response to Wednesday’s court ruling that Mubarak should be released from jail has added to a sense that the authoritarian order is making a comeback, threatening the freedoms that were the main dividend of the uprising that began on January 25, 2011.

Media are now dominated by those backing the army’s line that it removed Mursi in response to popular protests demanding his departure that began on June 30.

“I can sense, smell and very much tell that these are old Mubarak people coming to take their revenge on the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Khaled Dawoud, a liberal who backed Mursi’s overthrow but has since criticized the spread of violence.

“It is so obvious with the pro-Mubarak people who are filling the TV right now. They don’t even want to consider January 25 a revolution. They say June 30 is the only revolution.”

...

“There are fears or threats of arrest by loyalists of the former regime against the revolutionary youth and activists... The atmosphere of fear and terrorizing of activists who speak out about anything - this is widespread,” said Mohamed Adel, media coordinator for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights.

“Some big journalists... are being threatened and told you are either with us or with the enemy.”

Sitting in his shop, worried about getting home before curfew, Mohamed sees only dark days ahead for Egypt.

“The barrier of fear is returning. It is coming back stronger than before. The police were humiliated after the January 25 revolution and they want to restore their authority... The excuse will be anti-terrorism, the same excuse Bashar al-Assad uses in Syria,” he said. “We’ll end up a jungle like Syria.”

Hosni Mubarak free within 48 hours, claims lawyer
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/hosni-mubarak-freed-egypt

Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president overthrown in 2011, will be released from jail in the next 48 hours after a prosecutor cleared him in a corruption case, his lawyer has said on Monday.

Sudden Improvements in Egypt Suggest a Campaign to Undermine Morsi - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/world/middleeast/improvements-in-egypt-suggest-a-campaign-that-undermined-morsi.html

The streets seethe with protests and government ministers are on the run or in jail, but since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi, life has somehow gotten better for many people across Egypt: Gas lines have disappeared, power cuts have stopped and the police have returned to the street.

The apparently miraculous end to the crippling energy shortages, and the re-emergence of the police, seems to show that the legions of personnel left in place after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 played a significant role — intentionally or not — in undermining the overall quality of life under the Islamist administration of Mr. Morsi.

This Day in History, 25 May 2005 : Mubarak thugs sexually assault journalist Nawal Ali

Non, le harcèlement sexuel n’est pas un phénomène nouveau, pas plus que l’intimidation par ces méthodes abjectes.

▻http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/day-history-25-may-2005-mubarak-thugs-sexually-assault-journalist-

On 25 May 2005, the regime of former tyrant Hosni Mubarak committed one of its most notorious crimes when some of his loyalists sexually assaulted female protesters, including late journalist Nawal Ali.

▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/72300.aspx

#endSH

Report: Former Egyptian President Mubarak says too early to judge Morsi - Middle East - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/report-former-egyptian-president-mubarak-says-too-early-to-judge-morsi-1.52

Former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak said it was too early to judge President Mohammed Morsi, saying the Islamist politician faced a difficult job, in comments billed as his first interview since his removal from power in 2011.

El-Watan newspaper said its journalist broke through security lines to speak to Mubarak on Saturday before his retrial on charges of complicity in the death of protesters killed in the popular uprising that swept him from office.

“He is a new president who is carrying out weighty missions for the first time, and we shouldn’t judge him now,” Mubarak said in the remarks published on Sunday.

El-Watan, which is fiercely critical of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, said its journalist spoke to Mubarak, 85, just before he entered the court.

Mubarak, who was president for almost 30 years, said he was saddened by what he described as the difficult conditions facing the poor and the Egyptian economy, which has been hammered by political instability that has frightened off tourists and investors.

“This is the secret of my sadness: to see the poor in this condition,” said Mubarak, who was toppled by an uprising fuelled by economic hardship.

He said he was worried by the prospect of Egypt concluding an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan seen as vital to supporting the economy. The loan would bring austerity measures likely to curb subsidy spending.

Economists fault the Mubarak-era subsidy regime for failing to target state support at the most needy. The Morsi administration says it wants to better direct the subsidies.

Mubarak said the poor were at the heart of his decision-making, especially when it came to subsidy spending on staples.

“I fear for the country because of the IMF loan,” he said. “Its terms are very difficult, and represent a great danger to the Egyptian economy later on. This will then hit the poor citizen, and the low-income bracket,” he said.

With parliamentary elections approaching later this year, the Morsi administration has yet to conclude an IMF deal.

Mubarak also said he was concerned about lax security, apparently referring to increased crime, and a rise in Islamist militancy in the Sinai Peninsula.

He added, “History will judge and I am still certain that the coming generations will view me fairly.”

FERMETURE D’EGYPT INDEPENDENT, VOIX DE LA PRESSE LIBRE | Misna - Missionary International Service News Agency
▻http://www.misna.org/fr/divers/fermeture-degypt-independent-voix-de-la-presse-libre-03-05-2013-813.html

L’hebdomadaire Egypt Independent, version anglaise du quotidien Al Masry al Youm, ferme ses portes, ont annoncé dans leur dernier numéro en ligne et imprimée, téléchargeable gratuitement sur le site, les journalistes de la parution, qui avaient lancé en février une campagne de collecte de fonds pour éviter la fermeture du journal.

Si le responsable Abdel Moneim Said * a argué de coûts trop élevés et de frais excessifs, la directrice du journal, Lina Atallah – qui a relaté au monde la révolution égyptienne et la rapide transformation de la société issue des ruines du régime de Hosni Moubarak – a quant à elle reproché une mauvaise gestion et, surtout, “des choix plus politiques qu’économiques”.

Mme Atallah a estimé dans plusieurs interviews et éditoriaux que la propriété du journal aspirait à se concentrer exclusivement sur la version arabe, dont les articles sont plus étroitement contrôlés, entraînant de graves atteintes à la liberté d’information.

Avant la fermeture proprement dite du journal, de nombreux journalistes de l’Egypt Independent avaient subi la censure de leurs articles, jugés “trop critiques” à l’égard des hautes sphères militaires et des autorités égyptiennes.

Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas *Abdel Moneim Said et en complément,

Revolution Or Not, The Media In Egypt Are More Vulnerable Than Ever - NYTimes.com
▻http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/a-rag-of-riches/?nl=opinion

... [ The ] new chairman [ of Al-Masry Al-Youm ], Abdel Moneim Said, a close adviser to former President Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal (...) is also a former editor of the state-run newspaper Al Ahram, which under his leadership called the unfolding revolution the work of criminals, foreign agents and saboteurs — and then celebrated it once it succeeded.

In a message explaining why it was closing Egypt Independent, Al-Masry Al-Youm’s management dismissed the paper’s journalistic aspirations, saying that “the false hopes” it had created about its “desired impact” on Egyptian society were “a huge waste of financial resources, labor and time.”

I myself have “wasted” plenty of my labor and time working for independent English-language media in Egypt. Nearly 10 years ago, I stumbled into an editorial meeting of a small, groundbreaking magazine called The Cairo Times, found a home and began my career in journalism. That publication, and another I worked at afterward, succumbed to state censorship and — a related problem — lack of advertising, but not before providing rare on-the-ground coverage of torture and electoral fraud under Mubarak and the grass-roots campaign that planted the seeds of the 2011 uprising.

During its time in power, the Egyptian military regularly intimidated journalists, proscribing coverage of its abuses and financial activities. Things have not improved under the new government.

Egypt does have a lively media landscape, with dozens of private newspapers and satellite channels, as well as legions of bloggers, Twitter users and citizen journalists. But as Mai Shams El Din and Omar Halawa, of Egypt Independent, have written, “In Egypt and the Arab world, journalism is known as ‘mahnat al-mataeb’ — ‘the burdensome profession.’ ”

Reporters in Egypt still face physical danger, economic insecurity and prosecution for libel, and they are given few resources and little encouragement to engage in serious investigative work. Some Islamists have complained that the new Constitution contains no provisions to censor the press. And under President Mohamed Morsi, there has been a spike in accusations that the media are insulting the president and religion.

English-language publications are more important in this landscape than one might think. They allow reporters to tackle subjects that the mainstream Arabic media often avoid or ignore, like sexual violence, the army’s economic interests or the degradation of the environment. They serve as a kind of boot camp for both local and international journalists, allowing them to learn from one another and develop solidarity. They are alternative voices that push for access to information and government accountability.

The team of Egypt Independent — which now has no right to the name and archive it worked so hard to create — dedicated a large portion of its final issue to examining its own experience and the challenges facing journalists in Egypt today. It struck a note of defiance, vowing to continue to work toward a press free of nepotism and self-censorship. And it promised Egypt’s unreformed media establishment: “Our ‘naïve’ generation will bring down your media system.”

Tweet Mohamed Fadel Fahmy ‏@Repent11 (9 avril) : “We Are Sorry Mr. President” Facebook page supporting Hosni Mubarak now has 1 million 350 thousand followers ! 250 thousand Twitter followers."

#Egypte #Moubarak

Iraq to supply Egypt with 4 mln barrels of oil per month

Economic turmoil since a popular uprising unseated Hosni Mubarak last year has stretched Egypt’s finances and inflated the premiums the state petroleum company pays for fuel.

Traders say the number of firms supplying fuel to the Arab world’s most populous country has shrunk and repeated shortages have angered motorists and disrupted industry and agriculture.

“An agreement has been reached for Iraq to sell crude oil to Egypt with an amount of 4 million barrels per month,” Mousawi said, adding Baghdad would study a request to extend a planned oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan on to Egypt.

The Egyptian government is under pressure to rein in a deficit enlarged by energy subsidies that account for a fifth of the budget. The government must curb the subsidies to secure a vital $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan, economists say.

▻http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/03/05/269731.html

Egypt : children give testimonies on torture, sexual abuse in prison.

Several children and young men have reported that they were physically and sexually abused by police officers and Central Security Forces while in detention at CSF camps.

▻http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/children-give-testimonies-torture-sexual-abuse-prison

• Egypt Divided by Moises Saman
▻http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_4&VBID=2K1HZOZPDT02I&IID=2K1HRG71Z4GO&PN=14

Magnum Photos Blog

The past two years in Egyptian politics have been something of a melodrama, whose story lines are peppered with violence and intrigue, set to a backdrop of urban Cairo. Curtains opened with the revolution’s early days and the toppling of Hosni Mubarak; then came the military-led transition, and an election that brought the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi to power. But the next act in this political spectacle may be the hardest yet to predict. (…)

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Egypt’s turmoil is a distraction from IMF economic agenda | Nick Dearden | Global development | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/sep/21/egypt-turmoil-distraction-imf-economic-agenda?intcmp=122

The storming of the US embassy in Cairo has diverted attention once again from the real issues facing Egypt. It couldn’t have come at a better time for those who want to convince the Egyptian people to accept an International Monetary Fund loan, and extend former president Hosni Mubarak’s liberalisation of the economy.

While the western media and politicians seem content to view Egypt through the prism of political rights versus Islam, the economic causes of the revolution, the waves of strikes and economic demands of the activists are barely discussed.

This allows the US and European governments to portray the $4.8bn IMF loan under negotiation, the “assistance” funds that will shortly start flowing into public-private “partnerships” and free trade zones being planned by the EU, as “gifts” to the Egyptian people. In recent days, highly critical rightwing commentaries about the US embassy incident have even suggested withdrawing such “gifts” until the Egyptian government can keep its people under control.

The diversion into religious tension is also helpful to economic conservatives in the Egyptian administration, who are intent on pushing through the IMF loan, repaying Mubarak’s odious debts and opening the country to western capital. It allows President Mohammed Morsi to stand firm against the US on issues that are more symbolic, while giving way to its economic agenda.

The IMF agenda is not popular. When it tried to negotiate a loan with the unelected interim military government last year, it was turned down on the grounds that the resulting IMF interference would be unacceptable.

At the time, the opposition Muslim Brotherhood said it was firmly against the loan. Today, in government, the party hierarchy is supporting it, despite serious doubts in the wider organisation, where many are rightly concerned that an IMF agenda is incompatible with Islamic principles of finance.

Pour la 15e fois (quinze !), quelqu’un en Égypte a fait sauter le pipeline qui livre du gaz à Israël :
►http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506564

An explosion on Sunday rocked the Egyptian pipeline built to carry natural gas to Israel and Jordan, the 15th time it has been attacked since the start of the uprising in early 2011 that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

Admire ce titre : Egypt’s former spy chief Omar Suleiman ’dies’. Oui, ils ont mis « meurt » entre guillemets.
►http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/20127199229920277.html

Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s former spy chief and Hosni Mubarak’s vice president, has died in the US while undergoing medical examination, an aide has said.

Egypt’s Shafik flees to UAE
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypts-shafik-flees-uae

A Cairo airport official says Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister who was defeated by an Islamist in the race for Egypt’s new president has left the country for the United Arab Emirates.

The official says Ahmed Shafik flew out of Egypt at dawn Tuesday, just hours after the country’s prosecutor general opened an investigation into allegations that he wasted public funds during his eight-year-term as a civil aviation minister under Mubarak.

«Egyptian junta installs Islamist Mursi as figurehead president»

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/egyp-j25.shtml

By Barry Grey 25 June 2012

Egypt’s Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission on Sunday declared Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) candidate, the winner of the presidential election runoff held the week before in the midst of a political coup carried out by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).

The announcement followed a three-day delay during which tens of thousands of people, mostly MB supporters, thronged Cairo’s Tahrir Square to denounce the military’s assumption of dictatorial powers and the threat that the SCAF would falsify the election results and hand the presidency to its favored candidate, former Air Force chief Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Robert Fisk: Revolutions don’t always pan out quite as we wanted
Does a “deep state” exist in Egypt? I’ve been asking myself that in the streets of Cairo as more and more people – doormen, shopkeepers, policemen’s families and taxi drivers – express their support for “Stability Shafik”, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister who watched his former boss jailed for life on Saturday. Ahmed Shafik says he stands for stability. A spot of security on the streets – and now the young people of the 25 January revolution are asking what happened to them. Some of their cartoons are funny. The one where Mubarak’s face morphs into Shafik’s – via the all-powerful Field Marshal Tantawi – is a cracker. The young sometimes seem to be the only Egyptians leftwith a sense of humour – until you talk to them. And they speak of betrayal.

►http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-revolutions-dont-always-pan-out-quite-as-we-wanted-781797

Il n’a pas échappé au Haaretz que la prescription des charges de corruption contre Moubarak et ses fils signifie, au passage, l’abandon des charges qui impliquaient… Israël. (C’est fête !)
►http://www.haaretz.com/business/mubarak-cleared-of-corruption-charges-in-gas-deal-with-israel.premium-1.434

Deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may have been sentenced to life in prison over the death of protesters in Egypt’s revolution, but he and his two sons were cleared of wrongdoing in the sale of Egyptian natural gas to Israel. The court threw out the corruption charges on technical grounds.

[…]

In the gas case, the Mubaraks were accused of permitting the sale of gas to Israel at a discount in a 2000 contract between state-owned Egyptian firm EGAS and private company Eastern Mediterranean Gas. EMG’s shareholders include Merhav, Thai energy giant PTT, American businessman Sam Zell and Ampal-American Israel Corp.

The sale of gas was also part of a 2005 framework agreement in which the two governments pledged to keep the gas flowing from Egypt to Israel. After Mubarak’s overthrow, the gas supply to Israel was repeatedly interrupted by sabotage. Supply was halted altogether earlier this year. The indictment against Mubarak alleged that Egypt had lost $714 million due to the price at which it sold gas to Israel.