EU court upholds unfreezing assets of late President Mubarak’s family, closes the case

CAIRO – 7 April 2022:  The General Court of the European Union, on Wednesday, upheld its previous decisions of unfreezing the assets and funds of late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's family, ending a legal case that lasted for 11 years.

On March 21, 2011, following the January 2011 Revolution, the Council of the European Union had frozen the assets belonging to late President Mubarak, his two sons (Gamal and Alaa), his wife Suzan Thabet, and his daughters-in-law Heidy Rasekh and Khadija al-Gammal. Since then, the court decision has been extended annually until 2020 when the European Court of Justice annulled the decision and lift the sanctions imposed on them.

The court said in its Wednesday decision that the council should pay the cost of the legal procedures under Article 134(1) of the Rules of Procedure, saying “Since the council has been unsuccessful in the present case, it must be ordered to pay the costs, in accordance with the form of order sought by the applicants.”

“The Council of the European Union is ordered, in addition to bearing its own costs, to pay the costs incurred by Mr. Gamal Mohamed Hosni el-Sayed Mubarak, Mr. Alaa Mohamed Hosni Elsayed Mubarak, Mr. Mohamed Hosni el-Sayed Mubarak, Ms Heidy Mohamed Magdy Hussein Rasekh, Ms Khadiga Mahmoud  el-Gammal and Ms Suzanne Saleh Thabet,” the court decision said.

Following the court decision, Alaa Mubarak commented on his Twitter account on Wednesday: “In a new decision today, the EU General Court has provided further unequivocal judicial acknowledgement that restrictive measures imposed on President Mubarak and his family by the EU Council were unlawful from the outset, ending a decade-long legal battle.”

In a new decision today,the EU General Court has provided further unequivocal judicial acknowledgement that restrictive measures imposed on President Mubarak and his family by the EU Council were unlawful from the outset,ending a decade-long legal battle. https://t.co/iKJQFrojDw

— Alaa Mubarak (@AlaaMubarak_) April 6, 2022

The London-based Carter-Ruck Solicitors said in a statement that EU General Court “confirms the unlawfulness of EU sanctions, already fully lifted, imposed on former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family.”

“In oral submissions before the Court in September 2021 the EU Council confirmed there were violations of fundamental rights in two specific Egyptian proceedings it had previously relied on to impose sanctions,” the statement added.

Gamal Mubarak said in the statement that the family has already received a “substantial payment” from the EU Council to refund legal costs, adding that he is expecting to get more funds.

“I have also asked our EU lawyers to explore every possible legal avenue to compensate the damages caused by the EU Council's unlawful measures against my family,” he said.

One month ago, the Guardian newspaper reported that Mubarak’s sons and his regime’s political figures and business tycoons were among dozens of Credit Suisse bank’s clients who are involved in money laundering, drug trafficking, torture, and corruption. However, the legal representative of the family released a statement denying these media reports.