Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has been banned from leaving the country, as the government stepped up legal proceedings against him and his family.
Egyptian Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud also announced that all of Mubarak’s domestic assets would be frozen pending further enquiries.
The measures extend to Mubarak’s wife and children — including his youngest son, Gamal, a former banker — and may be the prelude to a formal prosecution.
A number of former ministers from the deposed regime have already been made subject to travel bans and asset freezes since Mubarak was forced out of office on Feb. 11, and many are now facing possible trial on charges ranging from corruption to the unlawful killing of protesters.
Until now Mubarak had seemed to be shielded from investigation by the ruling military council, a source of much anger among pro-change demonstrators who accuse army generals of cutting a deal with the former leader.
“The decision to freeze Mubarak’s and his family’s assets in and outside Egypt is very important,” said Tarek Osman, an Egyptian writer. “Apart from appeasing the masses and emphasizing that the public prosecutor has a free hand, it sends a clear message to the remnants of the Mubarak administration that their attempts to exert influence in the next phase will not be tolerated — especially during the coming parliamentary elections.”
Given that most of the legal efforts against Mubarak-era ministers seem so far to have been motivated by political considerations, the decision to launch legal proceedings against Mubarak now suggests the generals are fearful that public opinion will not tolerate any leniency for the man who ruled Egypt for 30 years.
“This latest move will not bear much weight on the country’s political landscape in the medium term,” Osman said.
The attorney general’s announcement came one day after authorities prevented Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, and younger son Gamal from flying out of the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on a private jet.
Unlike other Arab leaders, Mubarak was far from ostentatious. Whatever wealth he and his family may have had was rarely — if ever — flaunted. The most prominent symbol of their presumed fortune that has surfaced is a townhouse in London, which is listed in Gamal’s name.
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