Details emerge of Mubarak brothers' arrest
Ahram Online, Thursday 14 Apr 2011
Eyewitnesses paint a picture of Gamal and Alaa Mubarak's final hours on the outside


Egypt yesterday woke up to the news that the three untouchables of the ousted president Mubarak and his two sons were sentenced to 15 days in jail pending investigation.

Despite the monumental events of the past few weeks, the sentence still came as a shock to the trio with witnesses describing the two brothers as appearing dazed while they were arrested.

Details of the events taking placing behind the scenes have started to emerge to paint a picture of Alaa and Gamal’s journey from Sharm El-Sheikh to Tora Prison.

It was while being questioned in the prosecutor-general’s headquarters in Tor, the capital of South Sinai, that they heard of their father’s heart attack. The ousted president had been undergoing his own questioning before being transferred to Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital. The brothers were allowed to visit their father.

The two brothers already had their bags packed for prison but did not tell their father they were heading there because of his frail health.

After the visit, the brothers were then transferred in a car convoy to the Sharm El-Sheikh airport where they boarded a flight to Cairo. At 4:30am, they arrived in the capital’s International Airport. The two, already dressed in white training suits and caps (the standard uniform for Egyptian prisoners) and handcuffed, were then taken in a police van, amid heavy security by several police and military vehicles, to Tora Prison.

Once they arrived in the prison grounds they were met by prison warden Ahmed Abdel Razek who told them the rules and asked them to hand over their wallets, mobile phones and any personal belongings. After the prison administration revised their paper and the detainment order, the two brothers were put in a cell together.

At 7am, the prisoners were released into the prison’s recreational area and the two were met by many former officials, ministers and benefactors from Mubarak’s regime who have ended up there one after another in the past few weeks over a slew of corruption charges. The group huddled around Alaa and Gamal and asked about the health of their father.

The two brothers refused to eat breakfast and only took sips of mineral water as they began their first day in prison.

Following Alaa and Gamal’s arrival in jail, a protest broke out within the grounds of the prison by prisoners worried that they may be transferred from their cells as a security precaution for the two sons. However, the protest was broken up when Nazih Gadallah, the head of the prison, assured them that all prisoners will be treated equally and that the former president’s sons will be given no preferential treatment.

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