Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s Ousted ‘Pharaoh’ President, Dies at 91

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader who for nearly 30 years was the resolute face of stability in the Mideast before being forced by the military to resign after 18-day nationwide protests that were part of the Arab world's 2011 pro-democracy upheaval, died on Tuesday, the country's state-run TV said. He was 91.

The state TV said Mubarak died at a Cairo hospital where he had undergone an unspecified surgery.

One of his sons, Alaa, announced over the weekend that the former president was in an intensive care after undergoing surgery.

Hosni Mubarak, born in May 1928, was vice president on Oct. 14, 1981 when his mentor, President Anwar Sadat, was assassinated by Islamic extremists while reviewing a military parade.

Seated next to Sadat, Mubarak escaped with a minor hand injury as gunmen sprayed the reviewing stand with bullets.

Eight days later, the brawny former air force commander was sworn in as president, promising continuity and order.

Throughout his rule, he was a stalwart U.S. ally, a bulwark against Islamic militancy 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.

Though Tunisia's president fell before him, the ouster of Mubarak was the more stunning collapse in the face of the Arab Spring shaking regimes across the Arab world.

Mubarak was convicted along with his former security chief on June 2012 and sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day who rose up against his autocratic regime in 2011.

Both appealed the verdict and a higher court later cleared them in 2014.

The acquittal stunned many Egyptians, thousands of whom poured into central Cairo to show their anger against the court.

The following year, Mubarak and his two sons - wealthy businessman Alaa and Mubarak’s one-time heir apparent Gamal - sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges during a retrial.

The sons were released in 2015 for time served, while Mubarak walked free in 2017.

Since his arrest in April 2011, Mubarak spent the nearly six years in jail in hospitals.

Following his release, he was taken to an apartment in Cairo’s Heliopolis district.

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