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Egypt upholds acquittal of Mubarak-era interior minister on corruption charges

July 15, 2020 at 3:15 pm

Egypt’s highest criminal court has upheld the acquittal of former Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly, bringing to an end a series of court cases that started when the 2011 popular uprising ousted long-serving dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The public prosecution had appealed against a 2019 court ruling that acquitted Al-Adly, along with eight other defendants, from a charge of embezzling two billion Egyptian pounds (around $123.3 million).

The 2019 ruling included a fine of 500 Egyptian pounds ($31) for negligence and unintentional damage.

But the Court of Cassation has upheld the ruling.

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Al-Adly, Mubarak’s longest serving interior minister, was at the heart of revolutionaries’ outrage in 2011 as he was accused of presiding over the systematic torture that was believed to be taking place at the hands of the ministry’s personnel and in its facilities, such as police stations and jails.

Mubarak’s era was also marred by severe corruption; in the years leading up to 2011, Egypt ranked 115th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.