Facts About Egypt's Former President
Key events in the rule of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
- Mubarak took office in 1981 after his predecessor Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic militants during a military parade. Mubarak, Sadat's vice president, escaped with a minor hand injury.
- In 1981, Mubarak implemented emergency laws as part of his battle against militants, expanding police powers and curtailing rights to demonstrate.
- In one of his first moves, Mubarak said Egypt would stick to the landmark 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the first by any Arab nation with the Jewish state.
- Mubarak became a major mediator in the Arab-Israeli peace process. He remained a consistent ally of the United States, bolstered by billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
- During the 1990s, militants launched an uprising aimed at setting up an Islamic state. Gunmen attacked police, assassinated politicians and targeted foreign tourists, a key source of revenue. In 1995, militants attempted to assassinate Mubarak as he visited Ethiopia.
- Mubarak responded by arresting thousands, crushing the movement by 1997.
- He prized stability above all else, maintaining it despite a poor human rights record and complaints about corruption. Under the emergency laws, security forces made gains against militants but also subjected Egyptians to torture and other abuses.
- Mubarak's government subsidized goods such as bread, cooking oil and gasoline. When bread riots turned violent in 2008, he fired up military ovens to help quell discontent.
- He engineered constitutional amendments that, according to critics, guaranteed ruling party victories in elections. One amendment banned religious political parties, blocking the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest opposition force, from forming a party and officially participating in political life.
- Mubarak was re-elected three times in staged, one-man referendums in which he routinely won more than 90 percent approval.
- In 2005, Mubarak allowed the first ever multi-candidate presidential elections, which he won easily over 10 other candidates amid charges of voter fraud and intimidation.
- In the following parliamentary elections, when the opposition did relatively well, Mubarak responded with a broad crackdown. Police arrested opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour and many members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- The 2010 parliamentary elections were widely deplored as rigged, and the Muslim Brotherhood responded by withdrawing its candidates, who were running as independents, from a second round of voting.
- On Feb. 11, 2011, Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military after massive protests against his rule.