While the elected, toppled president Mohamed Morsi is under detention facing a life sentence, the fate of another former president Hosni Mubarak may soon change. Mubarak, along with his interior minister, was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison on charges of failing to stop the killing of protesters in the January 2011 Revolution that removed Mubarak from power. Mubarak is currently facing a retrial after appeals from both sides. He probably will not be required to stay in jail or even appear at hearings. He was not present at the last two hearings on the case. At the same time, Morsi is facing dozens of charges and is currently detained. Among the charges is high treason, inciting the killing of protesters, unveiling some of the country's most sensitive national secrets to other countries, spying, conspiring with Hamas to escape from prison during the revolution against Mubarak and supervising as well as approving the creation of terrorist groups. Legal expert Essam Al-Islambouli says there are not many similarities between Mubarak and Morsi. “Mubarak is facing only four charges after 30 years in office, while Morsi is facing dozens of charges after only one year at the helm. Mubarak's chances of leaving jail are getting high, while Morsi is facing the death sentence,” said Al-Islambouli. Mubarak has been cleared from a corruption charge; accordingly he is expected to be released by the end of next week. Farid Al-Deeb, Mubarak's lawyer, said, “all that is left is a simple administrative procedure that should take no more than a few days. He should be freed soon.” Meanwhile, Morsi has been held in a secret location. After Germany first demanded his release, the US followed suit, after which he was levelled with criminal charges which made his detention legal. He was detained for 15 days facing possible criminal charges. Morsi is not allowed to make any statements because as soon as he was detained, he lost his political authority and is being treated as an ordinary citizen. Ironically, Morsi might soon be making an appearance in the same court which Mubarak was in, at the Police Academy. “He will be placed in the same dock which Mubarak was in, but not necessarily the same judges will try him,” said Al-Islambouli. Mubarak is being charged, according to Al-Islambouli, with two felonies and two misdemeanours, while all of Morsi's charges are felonies. On 19 August the court dropped the corruption charge against Mubarak. But the prosecutor-general ordered on the same day the detention of Morsi for another 15 days pending an investigation into allegations he participated in inciting violence near the presidential palace. Without confirming that Mubarak would be freed, a judicial source said the former leader would spend at least another two weeks behind bars before the criminal court makes a final decision in the outstanding corruption case against him. That case is related to gifts from Al-Ahram that Mubarak is accused of accepting during his presidency. Mubarak recently repaid the equivalent of the value of those gifts, meaning he could possibly be freed though the court could choose to extend his sentence on other grounds or come up with new cases. As the case continues against the two former presidents, the army continues to round up members of the Brotherhood and others including two Canadians. The Interior Ministry declared that more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood members have been detained in raids across the country and says that bombs, weapons and ammunition have been seized. While the overall death toll from the current unrest is a matter of dispute, the official Health Ministry count is around 600 killed, but many analysts claim it is over 1,000. Those injured are over 4,000. The Brotherhood puts the toll at several thousands killed. In comparison, the death toll during the unrest that toppled Mubarak was around 800 and 1,500 injured. Political analyst Hassan Nafaa believes there are points of similarities and differences between both presidents. “Both Morsi and Mubarak were presidents of the same country, yet the former was democratically elected while the latter was not except for the 2005 presidential elections which almost everyone believes was forged,” said Nafaa. The army, according to Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, played a hidden role in the toppling of Mubarak after 18 days of continuous demonstrations whereas the army clearly intervened after only five days to oust Morsi in order to enforce the will of the people. Although Morsi was elected by the people he was also toppled by the people as they gathered millions of signatures through the Tamarod, or Rebel, movement. “Many agreed on the impossibility of organising one-million man demonstrations to topple Morsi as was the case with Mubarak. People were the ones who initiated the revolution against Morsi and Mubarak. Islamists joined the revolution during Mubarak's ouster but were absent during the toppling of Morsi as they were against it,” added Nafaa.
