Egypt: Mubarak-era fugitive interior minister arrested

Egyptian authorities have arrested former interior minister Habib Al-Adly who had been on the run since he was sentenced to prison in a corruption case, Reuters reported yesterday.

The Court of Cassation, the highest civil court, is scheduled to look into Al-Adly’s case in a session on 11 January.

Last April, a criminal court had sentenced Al-Adly to seven years in prison on a charge of embezzlement of public funds. The court also ordered him to return 1.95 billion Egyptian pounds ($108 million) and pay the same amount in fines.

Al-Adly was appointed interior minister in 1997 and remained in office until 2011 when he was dismissed from his position amid the 2011 uprising that toppled the country’s longest-serving president Hosni Mubarak.

Under Al-Adly, the interior ministry was accused of carrying out systematic torture practices against suspects. Following his ouster, he was tried in a number of cases included on charges of corruption. He was acquitted of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising.

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