Egypt’s Mubarak gets life term, protests erupt

HOSNI Mubarak, toppled by an uprising last year after 30 years ruling Egypt, was sentenced to life in jail on Saturday for his role in killing protesters after a trial that sets a precedent for holding Middle East autocrats to account.But it was not enough for thousands of Egyptians who poured onto the streets after the verdict. Some wanted Mubarak executed, others feared the judge’s ruling exposed weaknesses in the case that could let the former military man off on appeal.Protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focus for the uprising that drove Mubarak from office on February 11, 2011. Others in the second city of Alexandria chanted: “We are done with talk, we want an execution!”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 autocrat’s last prime minister.After a silence during sentencing, scuffles broke out inside the court between security officers and people chanting “void, void” and “The people want the cleansing of the judiciary.”Rather than a healing experience that many Egyptians hoped for, many see the trial that acquitted top security officials showing how much of Mubarak’s old order was still in place. Islamists and others called for street protests on Saturday.It was the first time an ousted Arab leader had faced an ordinary court in person since a wave of uprisings shook the Arab world last year, sweeping away four entrenched rulers.But the Muslim Brotherhood demanded a re-trial for Mubarak, who made Egypt into a staunch Arab ally of the United States.“The public prosecutor did not carry out its full duty in gathering adequate evidence to convict the accused for killing protesters,” said Yasser Ali, campaign spokesman for Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi.Mursi has vowed that if he is president, he would use the courts to ensure his predecessor stayed in jail. “It is not possible to release Mubarak,” he told Reuters on Thursday. “I promise the martyrs, we will retrieve their rights in full, God willing.About 850 people were killed during the 18-day street revolt that toppled Mubarak.Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister, an ex-air force chief like his old boss and Mursi’s opponent in the presidential run-off, 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.State television and a source said Mubarak, 84, suffered a “health crisis” when he was taken by helicopter to a prison on Cairo’s outskirts to serve his sentence, causing a delay in transferring him to the facility.