Arab Spring

[The Wengerbabies]

Mubarak being tried for the deaths of protesters, and rightly so.


Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are to be tried over the deaths of anti-government protesters, judicial officials say.

Mr Mubarak, who was ousted in February, is being detained at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He and his wife also face allegations of illegally acquiring wealth while they were in power for 30 years.

The couple's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are being held in Cairo's Tora prison and also face fraud charges.

The three men have been charged with "premeditated murder of some participants in the peaceful protests of the 25 January revolution," the country's state news agency reported the prosecutor general as saying.

More than 800 people died in the weeks-long crackdown that preceded Mr Mubarak's departure.

The charges come after renewed calls for protests on Friday to demand the trial of the Mubarak family as well as the lifting of emergency law.

Egypt's military-led administration appears to be responding to public pressure to bring the former first family to trial, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.

Frozen accounts

The 83-year-old former leader was admitted to Sharm el-Sheikh's military hospital in April with reported heart problems.

He and his wife Suzanne - who was also recently examined for possible heart problems after falling ill - have already been questioned at the Red Sea resort on charges of profiteering.

Reformers in Egypt believe the Mubarak family accumulated a fortune worth tens of billions of dollars while in power.

The Mubaraks have denied this, and little hard evidence has yet been made public. However their bank accounts in Cairo and in Switzerland have been frozen.

Suzanne Mubarak was not mentioned in Tuesday's charges announcement, but her situation may have brought the latest development about, adds our correspondent.

The 70-year-old was released from custody last week after she returned turned over a villa in a Cairo suburb and $3m (£1.9m) held in bank accounts in Egypt. Her release prompted a backlash, with many fearing the Mubaraks may be negotiating some form of amnesty.

More than 20 Mubarak-era ministers and businessmen linked to the regime have been detained since February's uprising.

Earlier this month, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly was sentenced to 12 years in jail on charges of money-laundering and profiteering.

Adly also faces separate charges of ordering troops to fire on demonstrators. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13527102

[Darth Vela]

Hmm, I was hoping for some kind of slinky in a turban.

Doesn't look good for him though, I'm guessing if their former Interior Minister is up for the death penalty for giving the orders then a guy higher up in the chain would get the same.

[The Wengerbabies]

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France and Britain are putting 16 ground attack helicopters on standby to launch attacks on Muammer Gaddafi’s regime in Libya (http://www.ft.com/indepth/libya-uprising) amid claims in the west that his grip on power is weakening.
France has sent 12 Tiger and Gazelle helicopters on the carrier Tonnerre while British officials said on Thursday that David Cameron, UK prime minister, had signed off on the deployment of four Apache aircraft.
EDITOR’S CHOICE

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Hundreds flee Yemeni capital as 40 more die (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a58c07c-8772-11e0-af98-00144feabdc0.html) - May-26


Tunisia tensions focus on ‘British Gas’ plant (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eb6dc1a8-87be-11e0-a6de-00144feabdc0.html) - May-26


Worried tourists turn backs on Egypt (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/381bebda-87c2-11e0-a6de-00144feabdc0.html) - May-26


In depth: Middle East protests (http://www.ft.com/indepth/middle-east-protests) - May-16




The Apaches, aboard HMS Ocean in the Mediterranean, would be operational within days, with an expectation that Nato could send them into action soon.
The escalation of the Nato offensive was discussed by Mr Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Barack Obama, US president, on the margins of the Group of Eight summit of leading economies in Deauville, France.
European diplomats claim to have intelligence reports that Colonel Gaddafi has become paranoid – although the Nato allies have seldom described the Libyan leader as a model of sanity.
Western intelligence said the colonel has been sighted going from hospital to hospital at night in an attempt to take shelter in buildings that would not be targeted by Nato air strikes.
“He’s on the run,” said one European diplomat.
“We are hearing from various sources that the regime is increasingly feeling the pressure and is beginning to fracture. Our judgment is that it’s the right time to be turning up the pressure.”
The comments may be seen as wishful thinking, given that Col Gaddafi has so far proved more resilient and elusive than many in the west had expected when they began their military operations in Libya in March.
Nato military planners hope the deployment of helicopter gunships will allow them to hit targets more accurately and from lower levels now that the Gaddafi regime’s air defence systems have been largely destroyed.
Mr Sarkozy and Mr Cameron said it was a good way to intensify pressure on the Libyan leader while staying within the remit of UN resolution 1973, which provides for Nato to protect civilians from attack by the regime.
Meanwhile forces loyal to the Gaddafi regime bombarded the rebel-held city of Misurata with mortar rounds on Thursday, reinforcing a view in Washington that a ceasefire offer from Tripoli was not credible.
Spain said on Thursday it had received a message from Libya’s prime minister offering an immediate ceasefire, although Madrid supports the European Union’s position that any ceasefire must be credible and verifiable.
The bombardment of Misurata was the heaviest for days and coincided with the start of the G8 summit, where western countries debated how to bolster the spread of reform in north Africa.
Mr Sarkozy repeated his view that Col Gaddafi “had to go” and that the longer he waited, the worse it would be for his country.
Mr Obama suggested during a visit to London this week that the west may consider that it had achieved success if it had ensured that the Libyan leader could no longer terrorise his own people.
But Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security adviser, said the Libyan government was not complying with the UN resolution and that the effort to drive the Libyan leader from power would continue.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/794de7a0-87c9-11e0-a6de-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1NUZ6JzA6




Time to send in ground troops, find the sonofabitch and kill him tbh.

*maybe easier said then done.

[The Wengerbabies]

An Egyptian court has fined ousted president Hosni Mubarak and two of his former ministers $90 million for shutting down telecommunication services during the country's popular uprising earlier this year.

The court ruled Saturday that Mubarak, former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly were guilty of "damaging" Egypt's economy after ordering the shutdown of the country's Internet and telephone services in January as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets.

Mubarak must pay about $33 million, while Nazif faces a fine of nearly $7 million. Adly has the heaviest fine of more than $50 million.

Mobile operator Vodafone said in January that it and other telecom companies working in Egypt had no option but to comply with a government order to suspend services during the peak of the anti-government demonstrations.

Activists relied on popular social media websites, such as Facebook, to organize most of their rallies. Internet experts have said that while Mubarak's government was not the first to limit telecommunications, it was the first time that a government had done so in such a widespread manner.

Former President Mubarak currently is in custody in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, pending trial on charges of ordering the killing of protesters and on corruption charges.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Egyptian-Court-Fines-Mubarak-Ex-Officials-90-Million-for-Telecom-Shutdown-122770769.html.

[V-Pig]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/arab-spring-claims-its-third-despot-2293476.html

YEMEN next?

The uprisings sweeping the Arab world appeared to have won their third victory over authoritarian rule by overthrowing President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen after 33 years in power. He left for Saudi Arabia on Saturday to be treated for injuries received in an explosion in his presidential palace and is unlikely to return.