[ 2012-06-02 ]

Chaotic scenes as Mubarak jailed for life
Deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was
transferred to a prison near Cairo on Saturday to
serve his life sentence, a prosecutor said, a
final fall from grace for a man who ruled the
nation with an iron fist for nearly three
decades.

"Mubarak arrived to Tura prison by helicopter, and
will be admitted to a hospital in prison," said
Adel Saeed, a spokesman for the prosecutor. A
spokesman for the Interior Ministry said Mubarak
refused to leave the helicopter on arrival at the
prison.

Mubarak received a life sentence Saturday for his
role in the killing of demonstrators during last
year's protests calling for his ouster. About 840
people died and more than 6,000 others were
injured in the 18-day uprising, according to
Amnesty International.

His sentence sparked angry protests as victims'
relatives and opponents disrupted proceedings
inside the court. Others stood on chairs, raising
fists in the air and chanting that the sentence
was not enough.

As police restrained people throwing punches
inside the court, clashes broke out as supporters
and opponents scuffled with security forces
outside.

"People want the execution of Mubarak," some
chanted. Others yelled, ' "illegitimate,
illegitimate verdict." '

The sentence handed down by Judge Ahmed Refaat was
the final chapter of Mubarak's three decade, iron
rule of Egypt that ended in February 2011.

Handing down the verdict before a packed
courtroom, the judge praised the revolution,
saying it offered people relief after living "in
30 years of dark without any hope."

He found Mubarak guilty of the killings, but
cleared him of corruption and misappropriation of
funds.

The judge also convicted former Interior Minister
Habib El Adly of ordering security forces to kill
protesters and sentenced him to life in prison.

The courtroom melee erupted after the judge
cleared six of Mubarak's aides, primarily security
officials, in connection with the killing of
demonstrators. Authorities removed Mubarak and the
judge from the courtroom amid the outburst

He also cleared Mubarak's sons -- Gamal and Alaa
-- of corruption and using their father's
political power for profit.

"The verdicts are insults to the Egyptian people
and the judicial system. It's a festival of
innocent verdicts to El Adly's aides who killed
and tortured free citizens for years," said Rami
Shath, a member of the Egyptian Revolution
Alliance.

The trial has been a spectacle few Egyptians
thought they would see. Images broadcast worldwide
showed the 84-year-old former leader wheeled into
the court on a hospital gurney and locked in a
defendant's cage.

It was marked by chaos inside and outside the
heavily-guarded courtroom, with confrontations
between prosecutors and defense attorneys, and
clashes between protesters and police.

The verdict follows Friday's expiration of a
notorious emergency law that ended 31 years of
sweeping police powers. It comes ahead of a
polarizing mid-June runoff in the presidential
election that pits the Muslim Brotherhood's
Mohamed Morsi against the more secularist Ahmed
Shafiq, a former official in Mubarak's regime.

Mubarak became president in October 1981, ruling
Egypt with an iron hand as a staunch ally of the
United States.

Source - CNN

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