Egypt’s ousted President Hosni Mubarak dies at 91

Egypt former President Hosni Mubarak has died at the age of 91.

Mubarak served as Egypt’s fourth president starting in 1981. until 2011 when he ousted following mass protests against his autocratic rule, and he was the first leader to face trial after the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region.

He was jailed for years after the uprising, but was freed in 2017 after being acquitted of most charges. The acquittal stunned many Egyptians, thousands of whom poured into central Cairo to show their anger against the court.

According to Al Jazeera, state television reported on Tuesday that Mubarak died weeks after undergoing surgery. His brother-in-law, General Mounir Thabet, told AFP news agency, he passed away at Cairo’s Galaa military hospital.

Throughout his rule, he was a stalwart US ally, a bullwark against armed groups, and guardian of Egypt’s peace with Israel. But to the tens of thousands of young Egyptians who rallied for 18 days of unprecedented street protests in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and elsewhere in 2011, Mubarak was a relic, a latter-day pharaoh.

His death comes just days after his two sons were acquitted of illicit share trading during the sale of a bank four years before the uprising that ended his rule.