Reports said that former president Hosni Mubarak was preparing a letter of apology hoping that would secure him amnesty. (File photo)
Egypt’s ruling military council dismissed on Wednesday a report that it might pardon former president Hosni Mubarak or his family, saying it does not intervene in judicial affairs.
“There is absolutely no truth to what has been reported by the media that the supreme council is moving towards a pardon for former president Mohammed Hosni Mubarak or his family,” the council stated on its Facebook page.
“The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces does not interfere in one way or the other in legal procedures to hold the former regime symbols accountable,” the statement read.
Mr. Mubarak has been detained since April on suspicion of involvement in the deaths of protesters and corruption. He is under arrest in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, where he is treated from a heart attack during an interrogation.
His two sons, Mr. Alaa and Mr. Gamal, are being held in a Cairo prison while his wife, Suzanne Thabet, after relinquishing her assets, was released as she also faced a corruption investigation.
An Egyptian newspaper, citing military sources, said on Tuesday the 83-year-old former president was preparing a letter of apology and to hand over assets, hoping that would secure him amnesty.
The timing of their respective illnesses, which meant neither joined other top officials in jail, has fuelled talk that they were getting special treatment by the military, according to a Reuters report.
As well as being the commander of the armed forces in his capacity as president, Mr. Mubarak was a decorated officer who led the air force during the 1973 war with Israel.
Some analysts say the military council, led by Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi who served as Mubarak’s defense minister for two decades, has been reluctant to humiliate their former leader by putting him behind bars.
But the council has been under public pressure to hold Mr. Mubarak and others to account, following a series of mass demonstrations after his ouster on February 11.
The former president is being probed for abuse of power, embezzlement and for his role in the deaths of protesters during the 18 days of unrest that led to his overthrow. Egypt has an estimated population of 85 million.
Due to sudden illnesses, neither Mr. Mubarak nor his wife spent time in prison for questioning despite being ordered detained.
(Abeer Tayel, an editor at Al Arabiya, can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
source : alarabiya
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