Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak passes away

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak passed away at the age of 91, state television announced Tuesday.

The former leader had undergone surgery just weeks prior to his death, local media reported.

Hosni Mubarak had succeeded in 1981 President Anouar al-Sadat, who made Egypt the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. He ruled Egypt for 30 years before being ousted on February 11, 2011.

He was jailed for years after the 2011 uprising, but was freed in 2017 after being acquitted of most charges laid against him.

 

The ouster of Mubarak led to the country’s first free election but the winner, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown in a military coup in 2013.

 

Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has since waged a fierce crackdown on Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood with human rights groups claiming that as many as 60,000 political prisoners currently languish in Egypt’s jails.

 

Prior to becoming the country’s fourth President, Mubarak was a commander in the Egyptian Air Force for three years.

His iron-fist reign was marked by totalitarian laws, which gave the state powers to conduct random arrests and conduct surveillance of citizens.

 

The former President also became a key ally of the US after supporting Operation Desert Storm to force troops under Iraq’s Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.