Egyptian protesters return to Tahrir Square after Mubarak avoids execution and his sons and henchmen go free
Protesters demonstrate at Tahrir Square in Cairo after Hosni Mubarak avoided a death sentence in his trial and his sons and henchmen were cleared of corruption charges
Egypt erupts as 10,000 protestors return to Tahrir Square in outrage after Mubarak avoids execution and his sons and henchmen go free
Egyptians gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo to call for a new revolution in Egypt, on the day that former president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in jail for his part in the Arab Spring of last year
'Justice was not served,' said Ramadan Ahmed, whose son was killed on Jan. 28, the bloodiest day of last year's uprising. 'This is a sham,' he said outside the courthouse.
There had been celebrations on the streets of Cairo when Mubarak's life sentence was announced, but they were short lived as the Egyptian people learned of the fudged verdict.
Egypt descended into chaos last night despite President Hosni Mubarak's life sentence, after he and his sons were cleared of corruption charges, setting off huge protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square - the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
By nightfall, a large crowd of up to 10,000 were back in the square and similar protests began in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Suez on the Red Sea.
Protesters chanted: 'A farce, a farce, this trial is a farce' and 'The people want execution of the murderer.'
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak attempts to cover his face as he is wheeled into an ambulance after being found guilty
People carried banners displaying 'God's verdict is execution', while in the port city of Alexandria the masses chanted, 'We are done with talk; We want an execution.'
The case against Mubarak, his sons, and top aides was very limited in scope, focusing only on the uprising's first few days and two narrow corruption cases.
It was never going to provide a full accountability of wrongdoing under Mubarak's three decades of authoritarian rule enforced by a brutal police force and a coterie of businessmen linked to the regime who amassed wealth while nearly half of Egypt's estimated 85 million people lived in poverty.
Mubarak, 84, and his ex-security chief Habib el-Adly were both convicted of complicity in the killings of some 900 protesters and received life sentences.
Six top police commanders were acquitted of the same charge with chief Judge Ahmed Rifaat saying there was a lack of concrete evidence.
That absolved the only other representatives of Mubarak's hated security forces aside from el-Adly. It was a stark reminder that though the head has been removed, the body of the reviled security apparatus is largely untouched by genuine reform or purges since Mubarak was ousted 15 months ago.
Many of the senior security officials in charge during the uprising and the Mubarak regime continue to go to work every day at their old jobs.
Protesters began arriving in the early evening at Cairo's Tahrir Square after a court failed to sentence Hosni Mubarak to the death sentence and found his sons and henchmen not guilty
Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power last year
In many ways, the old system remains in place and the clearest example of that is a key regime figure - Mubarak's longtime friend and last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq - is one of two candidates going to the presidential runoff set for June 16-17. On Saturday, Shafiq's campaign headquarters in the cities of Fayyoum and Hurghada were attacked and damaged.
The generals who took over from Mubarak have not shown a will for vigorously prosecuting the old regime.
That is something that neither Shafiq and challenger Mohammed Morsi may have the political will or the muscle to change when one is elected president.
Shafiq last week declared himself an admirer of the uprising, calling it a 'religious revolution' and pledged there would be no turning of the clock while he is at the helm. On Saturday, he said the verdict showed that no on was above the law in today's Egypt.
Egyptians gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo to call for a new revolution after the announcement of the verdict in the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak and his aides
Morsi of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood quickly tried to capitalise on the anger over the acquittals, vowing in a news conference that, if elected, he would retry Mubarak along with former regime officials suspected of involvement in killing protesters.
'Egypt and its revolutionary sons will continue their revolution. This revolution will not stop,' he said.
Former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak suffered a heart attack just moments after being told he would spend the rest of his life in jail.
Following the lengthy trial, the man who ruled over the country for 30 years was sentenced after being found guilty of being complicit in the killings of protesters during the country's uprising.
The ruling came at a politically fraught time for Egypt, two weeks before a run-off in its first free presidential election that will pit the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak, against the deposed autocrat's last prime minister.
Mubarak, propped up on a hospital stretcher and wearing dark sunglasses, heard the verdict with a stony expression. He had been wheeled into the cage used in Egyptian courtrooms, while the other defendants stood.
Jailed: Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, 84, remained stern faced as a judge announced he had been found guilty of being complicit in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising that forced him from power
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