Mubarak Convicted, but Abuses Continue in Egypt

Corruption and human rights abuses continue to plague Egypt despite the conviction of Hosni Mubarak

by Joe Stork
Human Rights Watch

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Perhaps, the most astounding feature of the Mubarak and Adli verdicts is that the four high-ranking Interior Ministry officials also facing charges got off scot-free. They included the commander of the Central Security Forces and the head of Cairo security. Egyptian rights activists used to spot them frequently on the scene directing security forces during confrontations with demonstrators. The other conclusion one can draw is that Mubarak's conviction and sentencing comes nowhere close to meeting Egyptian demands for comprehensive accountability for systematic abuses under Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule. A survey of a cross-section of Egyptians over the past year found that they care deeply about accountability for human rights abuses.

The serious crimes this trial addressed were limited to those that took place January 25 to 31 - the initial week of the uprising that led to Mubarak's ouster. What is still needed are credible and impartial investigations and prosecutions for torture, enforced disappearances, and other systematic human rights abuse - not to mention serious rights violations, including torture, under the generals who eased Mubarak out of power. Mubarak after all was tried before an ordinary criminal court, subject to ordinary criminal law and procedures, as he should have been. But since he was forced from office in February 2011, some 12,000 civilians have faced military court trials for ordinary crimes as well as protest-related offences."