Activists who helped overthrow Hosni Mubarak in 2011 are reacting to his death on social media.
“The corrupt butcher has died without being held truly accountable for his crimes,” Egyptian activist Hossam al-Hamlawy wrote on Facebook.
“To the dustbin of history, and hopefully Sisi will receive an end fitting of his massacres,” he added, referring to current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is widely accused of being more repressive than Mubarak, and violently quashing protests against his rule.
In August 2013, at least 817 protesters were killed by security forces in an Egyptian sit-in, according to Human Rights Watch, which dubbed the attack one of the largest “killings of demonstrators in a single day.”
Mubarak was toppled in pro-democracy protests in February 2011. He was the second Arab dictator to fall in a region-wide wave of popular demonstrations known as the Arab Spring.
The late autocrat was jailed for six years on corruption charges following his overthrow. He spent most of his imprisonment in a military hospital. In 2012, he was sentenced to life in prison for complicity in the killing of protesters during the January 2011 protests. He was later acquitted of those charges.
Amnesty International said at least 840 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured during 18 days of street protests in Egypt.
“His fall in 2011 gave many hope as he was reviled,” tweeted Timothy Kaldas, who took part in the protests, and is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at Washington DC-based The Tahrir Institute.
“He lived to see a more brutal dictator take his place who has done so badly that many now miss Mubarak,” said Kaldas. “He died peacefully. The protestors his regime killed weren’t so lucky.”
Supporters of Mubarak remember his presidency as a period of stability and moderation, a stark contrast from the political turbulence and economic hardships that followed the Arab Spring.
But his critics say his repression robbed Egypt of a political life, paving the way for the turmoil of the last decade.
“Historians will dissect his legacy,” tweeted Egyptian-British academic H.A. Hellyer. “Frankly, 9 years after the #Jan25 uprising succeeded in pushing him out of power, but failed to revolutionise Egyptian politics, the first thing that comes to mind is this: much of the turmoil of the past decade is down to Mubarak’s rule.”