We won’t stay silent in the face of persistent ‘defamatory reporting’: Gamal Mubarak

CAIRO – 17 May 2022: In his first public appearance since 2011, Gamal Mubarak, son of the late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said in a 20-minute recorded statement, that he and his family decided not to ‘stay silent anymore in the face of persistent defamatory reporting’ and to reply to all ‘false allegations of corruption that was unleashed against Mubarak’s family almost 10 years ago.’

He said in the biggening of his statements that he wants to underline some essential points regarding Mubarak’s family legal proceedings before the EU courts and beyond.

“When President Mubarak decided to step down in February 2011, he declared his readiness to confront and comprehensively answer any criminal allegations against him and his family. He declined to accept immunity of any kind and categorically refused any suggestions to leave Egypt.” , Gamal Mubarak said.

He noted in his statement that the “EU sanctions imposed against us prove their unlawfulness. We were patient, persistent and unwavering. We have not allowed any of these falsehoods to remain unchallenged.

On April 7, The General Court of the European Union, 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 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.”