Egypt's ex-dictator Mubarak is dead
The former president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak has died at the age of 91. The dictator ruled the country for 30 years until he was overthrown in 2011 during the Arab Spring. He was released from prison in 2017 after being acquitted on most charges. European media look back on his rule with a sense of unease.
Authoritarianism at its grimmest
Gazeta Wyborcza remembers Mubarak's rule with plain aversion:
“Although many wanted the death penalty for him, he lived to the age of 91. Before the Egyptians overthrew Hosni Mubarak he was already famous as one of the longest-ruling Arab dictators. ... For three decades he ruled the Egyptians with an iron hand. His rule set one of the most grim benchmarks of authoritarianism in the Middle East. The persecution of dissidents, torture in prisons and detention centres and political trials against his opponents and human rights defenders were a daily occurence.”
Al-Sisi is the new pharaoh
Toppling Mubarak has done little for the people, La Repubblica sums up:
“With the death of Hosni Mubarak, the dramatic cycle of the first Egyptian 'Spring' in 2011 has come to an end, and the restoration has now also been symbolically completed. The popular movement that swept away the old president is now, after nine years, trapped under a 'new Mubarak': General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. An autocrat who is younger and more effective than the old 'pharaoh'.”