Mubarak’s Sons to Face New Charges of Money Laundering

Egyptian prosecutors have brought new charges against former President Hosni Mubarak’s two sons, following their acquittal of earlier corruption charges, which sparked a new wave of protests across the country.

The prosecutors announced on Sunday that Alaa and Gamal Mubarak are now charged with money laundering. 

Prior to Hosni Mubarak’s final hearing on Saturday, the dictator’s sons were accused of profiting 2 billion Egyptian pounds – about $331 million – through insider trading in the Egyptian stock market. 

The lawyer of the Mubarak family had already envisioned that the two would remain in prison for the new case, though he had expressed certainty that they would be acquitted of the previous corruption charges in the Saturday hearing. 

Following the hearing of Mubarak himself, a large crowd of up to 10,000 gathered in Tahrir Square in the capital, Cairo to show their resentment of the court rulings. 

Mubarak and his former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli were both convicted of complicity in the killings of some 900 protesters and received life sentences. Six top police commanders however were acquitted of the same charge. 

The angry protesters demanded the execution of Mubarak for his complicity in the killing of the protesters during the country’s revolution that started in February 2011. 

The court hearing on Saturday was very limited in scope, addressing the first few days of the uprising and two narrow corruption charges. It failed to deal with the regime’s wrongdoings over the major part of the revolution as well as the past three decades.