Egypt’s ousted former President Hosni Mubarak has died at the age of 91, state television said on Tuesday, weeks after undergoing surgery.
Mubarak ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was ousted following mass protests against his rule in 2011. He was jailed for years after the uprising, but was freed in 2017 after being acquitted of most charges.
The former air force officer will be buried in a military funeral but the timing was still unclear, a military source told Reuters.
Mubarak’s son Alaa said in a Twitter post that included images of his late father that he had died on Tuesday morning.
Mubarak was ousted following mass protests in 2011. He was arrested two months later and spent several years in prison and military hospitals.
He was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt, but was freed in 2017 after being cleared of the charges.
He was however convicted in 2015 along with his two sons of diverting public funds and using the money to upgrade family properties. They were sentenced to three years in jail.
Mubarak did not leave the country after his overthrow, unlike Tunisia’s Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled with his family to Saudi Arabia after being ousted in protests that triggered the “Arab spring” revolts that spread to Egypt and elsewhere in the region.
In contrast, the Mubarak family has stayed in Egypt since 2011 but kept a low profile.
Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak’s time in power view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism. His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election, which brought in President Mohamed Mursi.
Mursi lasted only a year in office after mass protests in 2013 led to his overthrow by then defence chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now president.
