Hosni Mubarak Dead?

Hosni Mubarak Dead? Reports from Eypt indicate that the ousted president Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead. The former autocratic leader suffered a stroke and fell unconscious. He was rushed to hospital from prison where he is serving his jail sentence. Mubarak is surviving on life support devices and is in coma. Suzanne the wife of 84 years old former Egyptian president arrived at the hospital to meet her critically ill husband. News reporters around the world are waiting for confirmation from hospital authorities on the latest condition.

Hosni Mubarak who became the president of Egypt in Ocyober 1981 was ousted after 18 days of demonstrations during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Photo Courtesy: Presidenza della Repubblica

During the trial Mubarak’s lawyer Farid el-Deeb defended his client on the grounds of poor health condition. In June 2011, the lawyer revealed that Mr. Mubarak “has stomach cancer, and the cancer is growing.” The expelled President had undergone surgery for cancer in Germany the year prior and also has a medical condition related to circulatory problems with an uneven heart beat.

Conflicting Reports
“Any talk of him being clinically dead is nonsense” said General Said Abbas, a member of the ruling military council. While the military leader acknowledges the fact the Mr. Mubarak had suffered a stroke and fell unconscious, he denied the reports that Hosni Mubarak is dead. Here is a report from Al Jazeera.

Hosni Mubarak Health Condition Report

Egypt restless owing to continuous protest against military regime

Cairo is rampant with protests and violent clashes between military regime’s security forces and opposition groups that are continuously demanding for transition of power.

Egypt’s capital city- Cairo witnesses another day of severe protests by the people who are opposing military rulers. The protesters are continuously gathering around Tahir Square in the central part of the city to demonstrate against the regime. The protests in Egypt follows the same in many nations of the Middle East asking for freedom from military or autocratic governments and advocating democracy or civilian rule—a trend which has emerged recently in many countries and popularly known as the Arab surge globally.

Around 3000 demonstrators in Egypt have surrounded Tahrir square in Cairo, whereas police is trying to scatter the crowd using rubber bullets and firing tear gas. Interior Ministry of Egypt is located very close to Tahrir Square, which has become an epicenter of protests, which finally forced President Hosni Mubarak out in February. However, the military has now postponed the transfer of power to civilian rulers by 2013.

The protests, however, have continued with a suspicion over the intentions of military rulers that they might try to retain power despite parliamentary polls and election of new government in Egypt.

Egyptian demonstrators support Palestine

The military and Egyptian protesters clashed on Monday outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo. The protest was organized in support of the Palestinian struggle against Israel.

About 40 of the demonstrators were injured and many arrests made when the Egyptian military responded to the protests with rubber bullets as well as tear gas. The protesters had tried to gain access to the Israeli embassy. The protest was planned to be peaceful but clashes soon start when some of the protesters changed mind and tried to gain entrance forcefully to the embassy.

It was a bloody Sunday when some Palestinian refugees tried to forcefully gain entrance into Israel from their base in Lebanon and Syria. The security forces of Lebanon and Israel responded with gun fire several of the refugees were killed although few of them still managed to gain access to Israel through the fences. Also the forces fired at Palestinians who were protesting. The protesters tried to force their way into the border with Gaza Strip which was heavily fortified with armed soldiers. Also Palestinians in west bank took to street, holding flags and waving the old key which is a sign that they would one day reclaim their territory which Israel sized in 1948. The Palestine leader Mr. Abbass has also said that the blood of the Palestinians would never be in vain.

Bloody day in Egypt as Christians clash with Muslims

At least 12 people are reported dead in a bloody clash between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Cairo the capital of Egypt. Casualties include dozens of people; Coptic Church was attacked. This incident is one of the bloodiest clashes since the ousting of President Mubarak February this year.

The ugly incident occurred on Saturday at Imbaba in Cairo. It started when hard line Muslims mostly youths launched an attack at Virgin Mary church. The attacks were carried out to several buildings that were located not far away from the location.

This is the outcome of the long standing grievances among the Muslims who believed that the Copts are preventing Egyptian women who had wanted to convert to Islamic religion from doing so.

The attack also continued on Sunday during a rally attended by both religious groups which was aimed at unifying the state and pressing for protection from the government.

The violence has taken the military government who are in interim control of the country by surprise as they were not prepared for it. It is assumed that the attack was planned by a radical Muslim group which called itself salafists. This is faction within the Islamic religion in Egypt. The group has become more visible in recent times.



Former Egyptian president faces corruption charges

The besieged former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak remains in hospital due to his critical conditions after being detained over corruption charges.The authorities revealed

Mubarak’s health conditions immediately after he was hospitalized. He was under interrogation for 15 days in Red Sea Resort at Sharm el-Sheikh.

O some medical center in Cairo. Mubarak’s two sons—Alaa and Gamal are also under investigation and detained for 15 days along the former president. The ex-president and his family have been accused of mismanaging public funds and using for their personal benefits as well as adopting oppressive actions to suppress the opposition groups and protesters.

Mubarak denied all the allegations and tried to defend himself and his family. He asserted his rights to defend himself and his family while making his first public appearance after his ouster by the Egyptian people. Mubarak was overthrown from the post of president after huge mass protests against him in February.

The security forces, that supported Mubarak remained suppressive against the protesters and killed many of them.  Many leaders of opposition were detained by the security forces while they evacuated the demonstraters from Tahir Square in Cairo.

The opposition groups are now pressurizing the incumbent government for military trial against Mubarak and his family members who are also believed to have used his post for wrong reasons.

Ex-Egyptian president Mubarak refutes corruption charges

Hosni Mubarak, Former Egyptian president denied all allegations of corruption against him and his family while addressing people on Sunday. It was his first public appearance after being ousted from the post of President two months back.

Hosni Mubarak, was compelled to step down from his post onFeb. 11 following fierce anti-government protests all over Egypt. He stated that he did not loot Egypt and had no illicit cash hidden in neither foreign banks nor he acquired any other assets. Mubarak assured Egyptians of cooperating with all investigations regarding the alleagation. He clarified that he had only one bank account in Egypt and none of his family members had benefitted from the position he held in the country.

Suzanne, Mubarak’s wife and two sons—Alaa and Gamal are suspected to have taken advantage of his power for personal gains.

Mubarak’s statements indicated that he had stepped down as to show his patriotism for the nation.

He defended himself saying that he had always worked for the intereste of Egyptians and now walked out of his political life wishing for their prosperity.

The statement came from a televised speech and Mubarak sounded as reading some paper. His toned showed that he was proud of ruling Egypt for almost three decades and had no regrets over his ouster

The former president also stressed on taking legal action to defend himself against the corruption charges against him.

Yamani president to resign following severe demonstrations

Yemen is expecting a power transition after President Ali Abdullah Saleh resigns. The president is negotiation with other leaders showing concern over counterterrorism units and safety of his relatives.

Saleh has been a close ally to the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The negotiation included Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar’s aide, two opposition leaders beside the president. Gen, Ahmar is a defected leader who supported antigovernment protesters. The capital city Sana had thousands of protesters fighting fiercely with soldiers who were armed with tanks and other weapons to suppress the rebellions trying to overthrow the government.

. The protesters in Sana reiterated their pledge to continue their demonstrations however said that they would try to minimize the possibilities of conflicts with the security forces. The program to march from central Tahir Square to the presidential palace has been postponed

According to some close sources to the negotiators, the Yemeni president was insisting upon quitting only after guarantee of safety for himself and his family. He also wanted to be assured of a transitional authority who can favor him even after stepping down from the president’s post.

Saleh has learned from observing incidents in Egypt, where the former president, Hosni Mubarak after resigning, now faces charges of corruption.

Saleh also demonstrated that he still enjoys control over the security forces as well as support of common people by organizing a rally in the capital city. The broadcast on television showed him challenging the opposition’s capability to take over the power.

Yemen Protests – Three killed, 76 injured in clashes

Clashes between anti and pro government demonstrators resulted in the loss of lives of three anti government protestors and injuries to 76 demonstrators.

Anti government demonstrators took to the street much like Egypt and Tunisia. They shouted for economic and political reform. The ouster of President Abdullah Saleh was a part of the demand.

The 10,000 strong crowd of anti government protestors in the city of Tiaz were attacked by 8000 pro government demonstrators resulting in the loss of two lives and injuries. Yemeni soldiers had a tough time in dispersing the protestors. It took two hours for 5000 soldiers to disperse the protestors in Tiaz.

It is reported that the government supporters hurled a bomb on anti government demonstrators in Tiaz killing two of them. The other death resulted in Aden when an anti government demonstrator was shot down. Pro government demonstrators are armed with batons, rocks and knives.

The poor African nation is being torn apart by a Shiite movement in the north, a separatist movement in the south and growing terrorism across the country.

President Saleh who has been in power for 30 years refuses to step down. But his offer to have a national dialog on issues has been accepted by the opposition.

Ahmadinejad says mass protests not to make history in Iran

Buoyed by the Iranian Parliament’s demand for the prosecution of two prominent leaders of the opposition movement, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed confidence on Tuesday that the mass demonstrations are going to fail. On Monday Iran witnessed antigovernment protests after a year.

It is reported that nearly 20,000-30,000 people took to the streets in protest in Iran, including the capital Tehran. Two student leaders have lost their lives in the demonstrations.

The mass movements started after the last elections. President Ahmadinejad, who holds on to power despite allegations of a rigged re-election, claims that these are the machinations of foreign nations to destroy a great nation. But mass opposition leader Karroubi predicts the uprising in Iran will go Tunisia and Egypt way where the oppressive rulers have been forced to flee.

Karroubi says that the government must remove cotton from the ears and listen to the people’s voice. He strongly believes that oppression works only up to a point and history is proof of that.

Though a number of opposition members have been prosecuted, the government has not dared to prosecute the two prominent mass leaders Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi fearing wide spread unrest.

American President Barrack Obama has lauded the courage of the Iranian demonstrators and criticized the Iranian government’s response to the demonstrations. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the use of the Internet by the Iranian government to hunt down critics.

The opposition leaders like Karroubi do not have any future plans, but he is hopeful that the street demonstrations would overhaul the government and unseat not just Ahmadinejad, but also the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Middle East fears violence, political instability in Egypt

Fear of unrest in Middle East

There is an aftermath of Egyptian revolution and Mubarak’s exit leading to chaos in entire Middle East region. Uprising of Egypt and Tunisia have clearly demonstrated how people are dissatisfied with autocratic governments and common people have realized the need to voice their protest against sectarian violence.

The precautionary measures taken by governments of different nations in the Middle East to suppress any possible uprising after Egyptian crisis clearly show its impacts.

Yemen  too has witnessed an uprising as hundreds of demonstrators protested on Sunday. They marched to Presidential palace and took over the streets in Taizz City.

Yemen people are more enthusiastic following the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s government in Egypt and they too demanded ouster of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Many other nations in the Middle East are facing political crisis and governments are deploying riot police trying to suppress public movements. In Tunisia, President Zine el Abidine ben Ali was overthrown on Jan 14.

From Morocco to Iran, the entire Middle East region is going through a dogma of religious extremism and sectarian violence which common people want to get rid of. There is a continuous struggle between wealthy and have nots along with political violence and corruption.

Jordan and Egypt had been the two nations comparatively peaceful than any other nation in the region. They had signed peace treaties with Israel. But recently thousands of Jordanians entered Egyptian embassy to celebrate Mubarak’s exit. This indicates how the people are eager to embrace democracy in Jordan too.