Mubarak ruling leads to protests in Cairo

There have been mass protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square following the news on 2 June that former president Hosni Mubarak received a life sentence for his failure to halt the killing of protesters during Egypt's uprising 15 months ago.

However Mubarak, his sons Gamal and Alaa, and prominent business man Hussein Salem were acquitted of corruption charges, which triggered nationwide demonstrations, particularly in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The charges related to the Mubarak's purchase of five Salem-built luxury villas at a fraction of their value, and Mubarak's go-ahead for a Salem-owned company to export natural gas to Israel.

Mubarak and his ex-security chief Habib el-Adly were convicted of complicity in the killings of some 850 protesters, although the chief judge Ahmed Rifaat cleared six former police commanders of the same charge, citing a lack of concrete evidence. The judge could have imposed a death sentence on the ailing Mubarak but chose instead a life sentence. On 3 June it was announced that the country