President Barrack Obama had clearly
stated that his emergence meant that "...Change had come to the United
States of America...."
Conversely, on a very beautiful
Saturday morning of June 2nd 2012 in one of the World's most historic
cities-Cairo, Egypt, history was made when one of the World's most notorious
dictators and one of the first Arab Political Leaders to be dethroned last year
in the wake of the Arab civilian-led mass revolution or Arab Spring, Retired
Air Chief Marshal Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak was sentenced to
life in prison by a wholly local Court for allegedly masterminding the
dastardly criminal acts of mass killings of scores of pro-revolution civilian
protesters last year shortly before his over three decades -old brutal dictatorship
crumbled.
On that early Saturday morning
characterized by a sensuous early sunshine in Abuja, as I remained consistently
and intensely glued to my television set watching this unprecedented
epochal event take place in Egypt, one of the cradles of Ancient
civilizations, I was proud to identify myself as an African who is most
probably living during a time that the once categorized dark continent may have
started to witness some positive strides and who knows may be change has come
to Africa, I had muttered to myself.
I will return to give detailed
account of why this court process that took place in Cairo, Egypt will remain
one of the most significant judicial events in the entire World and
especially for Africans whether blacks or Arabs. This joyful moments came
barely a 48 hours after the former Liberian President Charles Taylor became the
first former Head of State in the World to be convicted and sentenced [to
fifty years in prison] by the much criticized International Criminal Court [ICC]
in The Hague, Netherlands.
What transpired in that Court room
of Egypt would remain symbolic and historic even if the now convicted
former Egyptian dictator wins on appeal or is released from Prison if one of
his proteges and his last Prime minister wins the coming Presidential
re-run election against the candidate of the Moslem Brotherhood.
The ousted Egyptian President known
simply as Mr. Hosni Mubarak was born on May 4th 1928 and he became President of
Egypt from 1981 to 2011 making him the longest serving President of modern
day Egypt after the iconic founder and Premier leader of
Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha.
Mr. Mubarak has an illustrious
military career where he rapidly rose to the prestigious rank of Air Chief
Marshal, one of the few African military commanders to reach that peak of Air
Force professional career. He was appointed the Vice President in 1975 and
succeeded the slained Leader Anwar El Sadat, who was assassinated in an
attempted military coup.
Writers of Wikipedia, the online
Encyclopedia recorded that Hosni Mubarak narrowly escaped death during the
ill-fated attack that cost the life of the then incumbent and charismatic
leader in 1981. But Mubarak rapidly recovered from his injuries to assume the
Presidency of Egypt on October 14th 1981.
A careful perusal of the profoundly
rich military and political credentials of Mr. Hosni Mubarak will underscore
the monumental historical significance of the event of his sentencing that took
place in the court room of Egypt and indeed this singular judicial process in
an entirely Egyptian Court system, is celebrated around the World as a
major victory which signposts the possible end of glamorization and
glorification of political dictatorship in Africa and in much of the Arab
nations and will invariably become a beacon of hope for the hundreds of martyrs
killed by armed security operatives in Syria on the orders of the tyrant Mr.
Bashar Al Assad. These great people of Syria massacred by President
Assad's militants will rejoice in their graves on hearing the sentencing of
Hosni Mubarak because it means that their death though amount to
crimes against humanity but their heroism will not go in vain since there will
surely be a day of reckoning for all these needless and relentless massacres. Painfully,
the dictator of Syria Mr. Bashar Al Assad still has the strong
military backings of Russia and China that have repeatedly wielded the veto
powers to halt any possible military intervention by the United Nations
Security Council to save the civilians from genocide similar to the viciousness
and brutality that took place about a dozen years ago in Rwanda during the
genocidal killings that took place among the Hutus and Tutsis.
What to me as well as to a
sizeable percentage of analysts started like legal gimmicks or
comedy in that Egyptian Court room soon gave way to the realization that
the judicial panel truly meant business when the presiding Judge Ahmed Rafaat
handed down some of the most severest sentences to a former Head of State and
his powerful cabinet members in Africa and the entire Arab World which implied
that ousted President Mubarak and his Interior minister who had ordered the
crackdown of the protesters- Mr. Aabib el-Adli would spend the rest of their
lives in the maximum security Prisons in Egypt where they once wielded enormous
political and military powers.
Ironically, the Chief Prosecutor in this case was said to have been appointed by Hosni Mubarak during his time as Head of State of Egypt just as this fact symbolize in truth that no one should be above the law. Mubarak who was immediately transported by military jet to the Tora Prison was said to have suffered health set back the moment he sighted the prison facility. The 84-year old former Egyptian President in the entire ten months of judicial trials had remained sick and was mostly in court on a hospital gurney suffering undetermined ailments.
Even as the Judge read out his
verdict telling Mubarak that his involuntary resignation from the high office
of the President of the country was the end of thirty years of brutal
dictatorship, Mubarak remained emotionally unmoved and unperturbed. May be, the
real import of the life sentence had not dawned on him but it soon dawned on
his consciousness when he was flown to Prison to begin his sentence and his
ailments took a dive for the worst.
He was lucky however to have escaped
the death sentence which was what most Egyptians who lost family loved ones at
the last Year's 18-day old protest would have wanted. He was acquitted of all
the corruption charges even as his two sons were discharged and acquitted on
all the counts although they are still facing civil cases relating to alleged
insider trading in the Stock Exchange. Their discharge from this trial
triggered another rounds of protests by the Moslem brotherhood and other
pro-democracy campaigners who lost their loved ones in the last year's
uprising.
According to international
journalists who covered the court room drama of all times, the Presiding Judge
had told Hosni Mubarak and other 9 accused persons including two of Mubarak's
Sons, that the uprising that saw his exit from office last year ended 30-years
of tyranny just as the Judge affirmed that it was reprehensible that these
civilian protesters who were never armed were cruelly massacred by armed
security operatives and the former President failed to exercise his power as
commander-in-chief to stop the mass killings. The Judge stated in his preamble
to the reading of the verdict that those who protested last year before he left
office were peaceful and were actually motivated to do so by patriotism and
loyalty to their Fatherland because of the urgent and compelling need to end
the vicious circle of poverty and oppression that characterized the nearly
thirty years of Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship.
Happily, the sentencing of Mubarak
was the first time an Arab leader ousted by his people has been placed before a
regular court. The United States- based Human Rights Watch had shortly before
the court session on Saturday issued a statement saying that "Mubarak's
trial has the potential to set a meaningful regional precedent for
accountability for human rights abuses and for upholding international fair
trial standards".
Indeed, the event in Cairo, Egypt
may as well become the tonic for pro-democracy campaigners in such African
Countries like Uganda, Sudan, Angola. Gabon, Togo, Equatorial Guinea and
pro-transparency campaigners in countries like Nigeria to be assured that
pretty soon all those political leaders responsible for crimes against humanity
and other forms of economic atrocities such as massive looting of public fund
would be brought before effective judicial trials to account for their misdeeds
while in office.
But one thing that is certain is
that the people of sub-saharan Africa must speak out, stand up always for what
is right and bring the positive change that we very much desired in Africa. The
docility of the civil populace in a place like Nigeria has made it inevitable
that a nation that is so very much endowed with natural resources is at the
same time the country with the largest concentration of poor people while an
insignificant percentage of the political elite and their cronies in the
corrupt business environment have cornered the entire commonwealth to
themselves and their concubines. Nigerians must know that if we must achieve
transparency and a peaceful community of civilized persons, then we must be
prepared to wage relentless war against the oppressors because victory does not
come cheap just as it has been abundantly demonstrated in Egypt, Libya and
Tunisia that supreme sacrifices must be paid to achieve an egalitarian society.
+Emmanuel Onwubiko, head, Human
Rights Writers' Assciation of Nigeria, writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.
5/6/2012
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