Egypt acquits Mubarak’s closest aides

A Cairo court acquitted one of deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s closest aides in a retrial in a corruption case, state news agency MENA reported today.

While courts have absolved several Mubarak-era officials, they have been handing down lengthy sentences to liberal and Islamist activists in cases ranging from protesting to committing acts of violence.

Zakaria Azmi, Mubarak’s former chief of staff, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2012 and fined 36.4 million Egyptian pounds ($6 million) on charges of making illegal gains.

But in 2013, the appeals court ordered a retrial in that case, and a separate criminal court ordered his release.

Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptians have been sentenced either to life in prison or handed death sentences for opposing the regime of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who toppled Egypt’s first and only democratically elected leader President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Al-Sisi rose to power after militarily ousting Morsi, using discontent stirred against the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi by a number of Mubarak-era officials, businessmen and media moguls as an excuse to restore order. He instead seized power for himself.

Morsi himself has endured years of various criminal proceedings that has produced several judgments and rulings against him. He was sentenced to death, only to have his death sentence commuted, while also having no hope of being released from prison under the Sisi regime.