Rage, resentment and rejoicing as Mubarak, ex-interior minister get life terms Former president suffers ‘health crisis' on way to prison, cries in protest CAIRO – Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power last year. The ousted president and his sons were acquitted, however, of corruption charges in a mixed verdict that swiftly provoked a new wave of anger on Egypt's streets. After the sentencing, the 84-year-old Mubarak suffered a “health crisis” while on a helicopter flight to a Cairo prison hospital, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. One state media report said it was a heart attack, but that could not immediately be confirmed. The officials said Mubarak cried in protest and resisted leaving the helicopter that took him to a prison hospital for the first time since he was detained in April 2011. Mubarak stayed at a regular hospital in his favorite Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh from his arrest until his trial began on Aug. 3. The officials said he insisted on the helicopter that he be flown to the military hospital on the eastern outskirts of Cairo where he has stayed during the trial. Earlier, Mubarak sat stone-faced and frowning in the courtroom's metal defendants' cage while judge Ahmed Rifaat read out the conviction and sentence against him, showing no emotion with his eyes concealed by dark sunglasses. His sons Gamal and Alaa looked nervous but also did not react. Rifaat delivered a strongly worded statement before handing down the sentences. He described Mubarak's era as “30 years of darkness” and “a darkened nightmare” that ended only when Egyptians rose up to demand change. “They peacefully demanded democracy from rulers who held a tight grip on power,” the judge said about the Jan.25-Feb. 11 uprising last year. Angered by the acquittals of the Mubarak sons and six top police officers, lawyers for the victims' families broke out chanting inside the courtroom as soon as Rifaat finished reading the verdict. “The people want to cleanse the judiciary,” they chanted. Some raised banners that read: “God's verdict is execution.” Outside the courtroom on the outskirts of the capital, there was jubilation initially when the conviction was announced, with one man falling to his knees and prostrating himself in prayer on the pavement and others dancing, pumping fists in the air and shooting off fireworks. But that scene soon descended into tensions and scuffles, as thousands of riot police in helmets and shields held the restive, mostly anti-Mubarak crowd back behind a cordon protecting the court. Later, thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising, and in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Egypt's northern coast. They chanted slogans denouncing the trial as “theatrical” and against the ruling generals who took over for Mubarak, led by his former defense minister. “Execute them, execute them!” chanted the protesters in Alexandria. Rock-throwing and fist fights outside the courtroom left at least 20 people injured, and a police official said that four people were arrested. Outside, Soha Saeed, the wife of one of those killed during the anti-Mubarak revolt, shouted: “I'm so happy, I'm so happy.” But, as the details of the verdict sunk in, protesters clashed with police, hurling stones and criticizing the court. Despite Mubarak's life sentence, lawyers acting for the families of victims in the uprising said the acquittal of the six security officials showed the weakness of the prosecution case and suggested the jailed president could win an appeal. Charges against the six included complicity in killing protesters and failing to prevent damage to public property. “Regarding accusations against the police leadership, the court is of the opinion that none of the actors who committed the crimes of murder were caught during or after the events, so there is no direct evidence for the charges,” the judge said. “The landmark conviction of ... Mubarak ... sends a powerful message to Egypt's future leaders that they are not above the law,” New York-based Human Rights Watch said. The ruling came at a politically fraught time for Egypt, two weeks before a run-off in its first free presidential election that will pit the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak, against the deposed leader's last prime minister. The Muslim Brotherhood demanded a re-trial for Mubarak, who made Egypt into a staunch Arab ally of the United States. Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, an ex-air force chief like his old boss, calls Mubarak a role model. He said on his Facebook page that the trial showed no one was above the law. Mubarak's lawyers have not said if he will appeal.
