Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Passes Away

Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak passed away yesterday according to reports by the BBC.

The former statesman's death comes barely a year after his successor and Egypt's first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi, suffered a fatal heart attack.

Mubarak, who served as Egypt's fourth president, took up office in 1981 and ruled for three decades. After widespread anti-government protests which engulfed predominantly Muslim countries and became popularly referred to as the Arab Spring Uprising, Mubarak was forced to resign in 2011.

Shortly after the uprising that led to his ousting, Mubarak was then charged with inciting the deaths of at least 850 protesters during violent clashes with Egyptian police and security forces. Although he was initially sentenced to life in prison in 2012, a retrial dismissed the charges and the statesman was freed in 2017, according to France24.

Egypt has since had a volatile political landscape. While Morsi was the country's first democratically-elected president, he served less than a year in office before he too was ousted by a military coup following continued protests by frustrated Egyptian citizens. The military coup, which had been led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, then saw the military chief become the country's next president.

Aljazeera'sJamal al-Shayyal reports that Mubarak is set to be buried today with the funeral taking place at an eastern suburb in the capital city of Caro. Speaking about the Mubarak's legacy, al-Shayyal adds that, "For sure his passing is something that will remind people of the situation in Egypt as well as the political legacy that he left behind, which is one that has allowed for the current military regime to continue in its ruling."