Jubilations In Egypt As Hosni Mubarak Is Sentenced To Life In Prison.

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Jumping for joy

Egyptians react with cheers of jubilation outside a Cairo court as deposed president Hosni Mubarak is jailed for life

Fight for justice: Relatives of people who died during Egypt's uprising that sw

Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak attempts to cover his face as he is wheeled into an ambulance after being found guilty

Doctors treating Mubarak claim he is weak after losing weight from refusing to eat and is suffering from severe depression

An Egyptian judge has sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison after finding him guilty of being complicit in the killings of protesters during the uprising that ended his 30 year rule.

It was the first time a deposed Arab leader had faced an ordinary court in person since a wave of uprisings shook the Arab world last year, sweeping away four entrenched rulers.

The ruling came at a politically fraught time for Egypt, two weeks before a run-off in its first free presidential election that will pit the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak, against the deposed autocrat's last prime minister.

Mubarak, propped up on a hospital stretcher and wearing dark sunglasses, heard the verdict with a stony expression. He had been wheeled into the cage used in Egyptian courtrooms, while the other defendants stood.

Over the past months, Mubarak has been held in a presidential suite in a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo. Doctors treating him have said he is weak and has lost weight from refusing to eat. They have also said he suffers from severe depression.

Demonstrators outside the court, many of whom had been demanding the death penalty for Mubarak, greeted the verdict with fireworks and cries of 'Allahu akbar' meaning God is great.  
Soha Saeed, the wife of one of about 850 people killed in the street revolt that toppled Mubarak on February 11, 2011, shouted: 'I'm so happy. I'm so happy.'Some people inside the court who had wanted a death sentence scuffled with guards, decrying the Mubarak-era judiciary. 'The people want the judiciary cleansed!' they chanted.

One man held up a sign calling for Mubarak to be executed, others chanted for a death sentence.

Judge Ahmed Refaat opened Mubarak's trial in August last year and declared it a 'historic day' fro the country. He hailed Egyptians for removing the only leader many of them had known.

The people of Egypt woke on Tuesday, January 25, to a new dawn, hoping that they would be able to breathe fresh air ... after 30 years of deep, deep, deep darkness,' he told the court. 

Total silence fell over the courtroom in the moments before Refaat announced his verdict.

The judge also sentenced Mubarak's former interior minister, Habib al-Adli, to life in prison. He sentenced Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal to time already served.
The crowd outside then erupted in joy. Anti-Mubarak demonstrators and a smaller crowd of his supporters threw stones at each other.

Other protesters angered at the outcome of the trial against deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and high-level security officials clashed with police outside the building where the verdicts were read.

Protesters threw rocks at riot police standing guard outside the building and the security forces gave chase, witnesses said.