Cairo: 5 March 2020

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) released today a position paper to explain the state bodies’ contrasting treatment between the two former presidents of Egypt; Mohamed Morsi and Hosni Mubarak, since their overthrow till their death, which constitutes a gross violation of the principle of equality before the law, regardless of the political position taken towards each of them.

The paper, entitled “The Death of Two Presidents… The Death of Equality… On the absence of equality between Mubarak and Morsi from detention to death”, cites 10 examples of the differentiation in the treatment of two presidents, who were both ousted from power, held in detention, brought to trial and then died in less than one year. The paper elucidates how the various state agencies deal with each of the two presidents since their detention till their death and burial of their bodies.

While Hosni Mubarak stayed in Sharm el-Sheikh after being ousted, Mohamed Morsi was detained in an unknown location after his ouster, and while Mubarak had a military funeral and was buried in the family’s tomb, Morsi was deprived of a public funeral and his family’s request to be buried in their tombs was rejected. Starting from the detention of both of them till their death, there was a contrasting treatment between them although both of them were presidents of Egypt and both of them were tried before they received final verdicts, which necessitates the principle of equality in their legal situation.

The paper also explains how the political position prevails over the values of equality before the law by shedding light on the differentiation between two presidents who both were convicted upon judicial rulings, which may reveal that there is a contrasting treatment between the different prisoners depending on this political position at the expense of the rule of law.

To read the paper: