Former Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak was being kept alive on life support after his condition
deteriorated seriously, according to a former senior Egyptian military officer.
Mubarak, 84, was being treated at a military hospital after he was
transferred from a prison where he had been held since his sentencing to life
in prison, retired Major General Sameh Seif el-Layzil, who maintains close ties
to the military, said today in an interview. Egypt’s state-run MENA news
agency, citing medical officials it didn’t name, reported earlier that Mubarak
was “clinically” dead.
The reports added to the confusion clouding Egypt’s transition to
democracy, which began when Mubarak was pushed from power by a mass uprising
last year. Since then, the country has limped from one crisis to the next, with
the latest coming after the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak
claimed additional powers in actions timed for last weekend’s election to
choose a civilian president.
The move drew tens of thousands of protesters, led by the Muslim
Brotherhood’s political party, to downtown Cairo yesterday. Criticism also came
from abroad.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center observed the
vote, said he was “deeply troubled by the undemocratic turn that Egypt’s
transition has taken.”
The military’s decree “violates their prior commitment to the
Egyptian people to make a full transfer of power to an elected civilian
government,” Carter said in a statement e- mailed by the center.
Dueling Claims
The protests came after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi and
Mubarak’s last premier, Ahmed Shafik, made dueling claims to the country’s
presidency. Election results haven’t been announced.
The ruling generals’ appropriation of power through a constitutional
decree enraged the Brotherhood and youth activists such as the April 6 group,
which played a leading role in the Egyptian uprising. Protesters returned to
the home of the revolution, Cairo’s Tahrir Square, demanding a reversal of what
the Islamist group called the military’s “hegemony.”
A decree gave the military additional legislative powers and a say
over the drafting of the constitution. It followed a court decision last week
to dissolve parliament and fueled charges the military is derailing Egypt’s
transition to democracy. The move also stoked investor concern about a recovery
in the $240 billion economy and prospects for a $3.2 billion International
Monetary Fund loan. Egyptian stocks and bonds extended declines today.
Most Divisive
Mursi and Shafik’s campaigns held televised news conferences
yesterday, with both claiming they had won about 52 percent of the vote in the
runoff.
The two men were the most divisive to emerge from a field of 13
candidates in the election’s first round last month. The vote was intended to
cap the transition process made possible by Mubarak’s push from power.
The man who led Egypt for almost 30 years was sentenced to life in
prison on June 2 for failing to prevent the deaths of protesters killed during
last year’s uprising. He was then remanded to the intensive-care unit of
Cairo’s Tora prison, where his two sons were also held.
His condition steadily deteriorated upon his arrival, and took
another turn for the worse late yesterday. Prison department spokesman
Brigadier-General Mohamed Elewa said Mubarak had to be placed on a ventilator.
‘Clinically
Dead’
Shortly after that announcement, he was rushed from the prison
hospital to a nearby military hospital. The state-run Middle East News Agency
reported that he was “clinically dead” upon arrival and doctors were unable to
revive him after using a defibrillator several times.
El-Leyzil said doctors were able to clear a clot and revive Mubarak
and that he was placed on life support.
Earlier reports of Mubarak’s deteriorating health in prison were met
with skepticism by Islamists and activists such as the April 6 youth group.
They said it was a pretext to move a man they blamed for the country’s ills,
including unemployment, inflation and poor educational and health care systems,
to more comfortable surroundings.
The ruling military, which Mubarak had been a part of before rising
to the presidency with the assassination of his predecessor, was described by
the Islamists and activists as trying to continue its own legacy. The generals’
grab for power was the focus of the protest yesterday.
Under the decree, the military assumed legislative powers until the
election of a new parliament, after the previous Islamist-led legislature was
dissolved. It also ensured its own budget remained beyond public scrutiny and
that it could exercise a hand in writing the constitution, as well as vetoing
provisions in the document.
The military sought to reassure Egyptians that it would hand over
power by the end of June.
“What the
military got was legislative power and their privileges and prerogatives
guaranteed,” Hani Sabra, a Middle East analyst with Eurasia Group, said by
phone. “They got this because they out-maneuvered the Brotherhood.”
Market Slumps
The tension in the country was reflected in the markets, with
Egypt’s benchmark EGX 30 stock index slumping 4.2 percent at the close in Cairo
yesterday, extending its slide since the first-round election last month to 18
percent. Yields on the country’s 5.75 percent dollar bonds maturing in 2020
advanced for a fourth day, gaining three basis points to 6.97 percent.
Economic growth stalled after last year’s revolt as tourists and
investors stayed away. The government’s borrowing costs for one-year debt have
surged by about 50 percent since the start of last year, and the central bank
has spent more than half of the country’s currency reserves.
The protesters massing in Tahrir underscored the outrage over the
military’s move, suspicion about its motives and the stakes for the Islamist
group. The rally was led by the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s
political arm headed by Mursi, and also included other Islamists and youth
activist groups.
“If Mursi is
elected, he cannot afford to be a powerless president or the group will
collapse,” said Omar Ashour, director of Middle East studies at the University
of Exeter in the U.K. and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. “It
has already lost its popularity in parliamentary elections because of the very
same scenario: You’re seen as empowered, but you’re not really.”
The Brotherhood said in a statement on the Freedom and Justice
Party’s Facebook page that Egyptians are ready to continue the struggle to
prevent “the military council’s hegemony over the reins of power, and the
overthrow of democracy.”
The military “wants to have the control buttons of the Egyptian
political landscape,” Ashour said, while also reserving the ability to “reset
that game at any point” if they don’t like the outcome.
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