The innocence of ousted Mubarak and putting the revolution on trial

Hosni Mubarak’s release from prison is an example of the fact that the counter revolutionary forces in Egypt will act to quash any opposition. Instead Mubarak’s trial has been little more than a TV drama that has lasted six years.

Rather than justice we have seen the how differently Mubarak was treated, escorted to his house and eventually found innocent, versus the treatment of political activists whose trials were more like a game of revenge.

A number of revolutionaries have been forced into hiding and while others were driven into exile. By contrast, Mubarak, the ousted President, has been exonerated of all crimes.

Read: Celebrations for the release of Mubarak

It is as if there was never a revolution against Mubarak and his regime at all! As if his tenure was not brought to end by the protests against him. There have even been some claims that the revolution was manufactured in photoshop.

But it was the counter-revolution that sought to erase the public memory of revolution through propaganda and misinformation. There are no longer records in the archives of Egypt’s biggest newspapers. They have been purposefully removed.

The website of the me Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has also been removed in its entirety. There are articles being circulated by news agencies who are attempting to assassinate history itself, in an effort to make people question their belief in the outcome of the revolution. Silence has become the new way to talk about the revolution and people have begun to pray for a return to Mubarak’s reign, such is the power of the counter-revolution.

Along with the production of propaganda and lies has come the prevalence of fear and terror. The regime, with its fascist tendencies and its police apparatus, has worked to demonise the voices of the revolution in order to portray the coup as a new revolution. Yet this is a counterfeit of history.

Read: Egypt’s Mubarak files lawsuit to unfreeze his assets

Since the SCAF took over control of the country in February 2011, the people have demanded that Mubarak be tried for the crimes he committed throughout the revolution, especially as it concerns the death of innocents.

The public pressure to conduct the trial on this basis continued until 11 April 2011, when the Hosni Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal were questions regarding the embezzlement of public funds and killing of protestors.

On 2 June 2011, it was announced that the first session of the trial would continue until 2 August 2011. Many of the officials who were previously in charge of questioning were dismissed based on suspicions of accepting public bribes, exploiting political influence, looting and theft, as well as killing of demonstrators on 25 January 2011.

At that time, former President Hosni Mubarak, his two sons and his interior minister were sentenced to life imprisonment. This event was the first in a string of cover-ups meant to deceive the public and to hide the crimes that had been committed by the authoritarian regime for over 30 years. The subject was pushed into a corner of judicial and legal mazes, with several state institutions playing a vital role in the comedic play.

Read: Former Egypt dictator Hosni Mubarak freed after 6 years

There was a great deal of public pressure at the beginning of the trial and at that time it was unavoidable. The sessions of the trial were numerous and they dragged on. In the 46th session of the trial on 2 June 2012, Judge Ahmed Rafaat issued a verdict that sentenced Hosni Mubarak and Adli to life in prison. The deputy Minister of Interior was found innocent in the case of killing protestors.

Mubarak and his two sons were found innocent on the charges of financial corruption against them. In January of 2013, an appeal was approved to for a retrial all of those accused. The entire trial was started anew; this time there was much by way of manipulation by Mubarak’s lawyers to took advantage of every loophole.

The council in charge in the second trial was adamant on repeating the same phrase after every accusation was declared, “Return to your seats.” In the court’s opinion, Mubarak served his country for more than 36 years and throughout this service it was inevitable that he would make mistakes. Therefore, “one cannot truly accuse him” of killing demonstrators.

Yet there is no doubt that Mubarak’s cronies did not wait for the Judge’s orders to return to their old lives, where they enjoy power and wealth, just as they did before the uprising.

They are swimming in the glory of the innocence granted to them by the counter-revolution. Their images are recurring on television screens thanks to the media, which refuses to cover its faults.

Mubarak’s trial ended in innocence, after nearly 6 years in custody and the televising of what is known as “The Trial of the Century.” For the first time in history, a televised trial went passed the Court of Cassation in Egypt and beyond the police academy. In the first trial he was sentenced to life in prison until the appeal called for a retrial and he was acquitted, before the decision could be vetoed.

The Egyptian Attorney General made the decision a few days after the end of the Mubarak’s trial to lift the travel ban on him and his two sons, Gamal and Ala’. Mubarak also appealed for the reinstatement of his stock to in the Egyptian Clearing Company, in which he has nearly 62,934,173 Egyptian pounds.

It is in this manner that Mubarak’s trial ended. It has reached a point where he is calling for the trial of the Attorney General and the Minster of Justice, and it is not ironic in this case that Mubarak is demanding compensation. Mubarak’s cronies have returned to their old lives. The revolutionaries have gone to their graves or have gone to exile. But the opportunities have have opened for new revolutionary movement to begin. May it not be too far away.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.