CAIRO (Update 3) - A Cairo administrative court Saturday fined ousted president Hosni Mubarak and two ex-ministers LE540 million ($90.64 million) for 'damaging the economy' with a five-day mobile and Internet shutdown during Egypt's revolution. "Mubarak, his former prime minister Ahmed Nazif and interior minister Habib el-Adli were jointly ordered to pay the State 540 million Egyptian pounds from their personal funds," Judge Hamdi Yassin Okasha said. He added that the administrative court fined Mubarak LE200 million, Nazif LE40 million and el-Adly LE300 million that must be paid from their private assets. "They [Mubarak and the ex-ministers] are charged with damaging the economy after their decision to cut Internet and telephone services during the January 25 revolution," Okasha explained, referring to the 18-day protest that toppled Mubarak on February 11. The court ruling is the first to be made against the 83-year-old Mubarak, who faces more serious charges, including ordering the killing of protesters, corruption and amassing illegal assets. He is being temporarily detained, while a date for his trial will be announced soon. "The fines should be paid to the State Treasury, as the administrative authorities have the right to ask for extra fines in compensation for the damages caused by the mobile and Internet cut," the judge said. He added that, if the concerned authorities want to slap additional fines on Mubarak, Nazif and el-Adly, they must do so before the end of fiscal year 2011-12. Mohamed Abdel-Aal, a lawyer, had filed the lawsuit against Mubarak and the former ministers for violating the privacy of citizens and cutting the services, in a bid to save the former regime from the 'people's anger'. Telecom operator Vodafone said in January it and other mobile operators had no option but to comply with an order from the authorities to suspend services in selected areas of the country, during the peak of the anti-government demonstrations. In February, Vodafone also accused the authorities of using its network to send pro-government text messages to subscribers.
