Gamal Mubarak جمال مبارك |
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Born | December 27, 1963 Cairo, Egypt |
Nationality | Egyptian, British [1] |
Alma mater | American University in Cairo |
Political party | National Democratic Party |
Gamal Al Din Mohammed Hosni Sayed Mubarak (Arabic: جمال الدين محمد حسنى سيد مبارك, IPA: [ɡæˈmæːl edˈdiːn mæˈħæmmæd ˈħosni ˈsæjjed moˈbɑːɾˤɑk]), (born on December 27, 1963), is the younger of the two sons of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. In contrast to his older brother Alaa, Gamal had pursued an active public profile and was starting to wield some influence on political life in the country before the revolution of early 2011.
Prior to the revolution, Gamal was the deputy secretary-general of the then-ruling and now-dissolved National Democratic Party, and head of its influential policies committee.
For his early education, he attended St. George's College, Cairo before entering the American University in Cairo. He graduated with a Business Degree from the university and he claims he also earned an MBA from the school.[citation needed] He began his professional life working for Bank of America. He worked primarily in the field of investment banking.
With a few colleagues, Mubarak left Bank of America to set up London-based Medinvest Associates Ltd, which manages a private equity fund, and to do some corporate finance consultancy work.[2] His role with Medinvest has since ended.
Mubarak is also the former Chairman of the Future Generation Foundation (FGF), an NGO dedicated to job training, and a former honorary member of the Rotary, which was awarded to him in May 2000 by then Rotary International president Frank Devlyn.[3]
In May 2007, Mubarak married Khadija El Gammal, the daughter of Egyptian businessman Mahmoud El Gammal. They have a daughter, Farida, who was born in 2010.
During the first week of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution there were unconfirmed reports and speculation that Gamal may have left Egypt during the protests. However, on February 3, 2011, Gamal was present for an ABC News interview of his father in Cairo.[4]
On 13 April 2011, Gamal was imprisoned for 15 days pending investigations for corruption, abuse of power, and for his alleged role in causing the fatalities and casualties of peaceful protesters during the revolution which was sparked on January 25, 2011.
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Inheritance of Power
The grooming of Gamal Mubarak to be his father's successor as the next president of Egypt became increasingly evident at around the year 2000.[5] With no vice-president, and with no heir-apparent in sight, Gamal started enjoying considerable attention in Egyptian state-run media.[6] Bashar al-Asad's rise to power in Syria in June 2000 just hours after Hafez al-Asad's death, sparked a heated debate in the Egyptian press regarding the prospects for a similar scenario occurring in Cairo.[7]
Both President Mubarak and his son denied the possibility of any inheritance of power in Egypt. More recently, this claim was made in early 2006, when Gamal Mubarak declared repeatedly that he had no aspiration to succeed his father, but that he would maintain his position in the then-ruling NDP as deputy secretary general, a post he held in addition to heading the party's policy committee, allegedly the most important organ of the NDP.[8][dead link]
In September 2004 several political groups (most are unofficial), on both the left and the right, announced their sharp opposition to the inheritance of power. They demanded political change and asked for a fair election with more than one candidate.[9][dead link]
On February 26, 2005, Mubarak ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking parliament to amend Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution. This change in the constitution was seen then by some analysts and senior judicial figures as a ploy to seamlessly allow Gamal Mubarak to inherit the top position in Egypt. According to this view, Gamal Mubarak would be one of the candidates in a presidential elections and would be supported by the ruling party and the government-controlled media. Since remaining serious candidates would be disqualified by the NDP-controlled People's Assembly leaving only the less popular candidates, the inheritance of power would be accomplished through a "democratic" process.
Following the commencement of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Omar Suleiman was appointed the vice-president of Egypt on January 29, 2011.[10] Suleiman announced on 3 February 2011 that Gamal Mubarak would not seek election.
Role in the ouster of his father, Hosni Mubarak
Some political analysts[11] speculate that the alleged deteriorating state of the Egyptian economy in the last days of Hosni Mubarak's rule was caused by Gamal and his friends taking over as a political advisers to Mubarak. On the other hand, a wide range of analysts credit Gamal Mubarak for reviving the Egyptian economy over the past five years, from a stagnant, mostly state-run economy to a largely free market system that enjoyed 5% GDP growth.[11]
Reuters Africa reports of a fight taking place between him and his older brother, Alaa Mubarak. Alaa supposedly accused him of ruining his father's last days, and humiliating him.[12]
Allegations of corruption
Following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, media sources started to point to the financial dealings of Gamal Mubarak, which were described as suspicious. On 28 February 2011 the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram published a list of bank accounts allegedly belonging to Gamal Mubarak. Al-Ahram reported that the Chief Prosecutor of Egypt received a report that Gamal Mubarak inexplicably amassed significant sums of money that were deposited in these accounts. This allegation came on background of a decision from the Prosecutor General of Egypt to freeze all bank accounts belonging to the Mubarak family, including Gamal Mubarak.[13] The Egyptian Appeals Court ordered that Mubarak's financial status is reviewed by the court on March 5, 2011. It is expected that the court will render a decision in that hearing whether to uphold the decision to freeze Mubarak's assets.[14]
References
- ^ AlJazeeraEnglish (2011-01-30). "Where in the world is Gamal Mubarak?". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKWGOXMnTRk. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ "Interview with MR. GAMAL MUBARAK Hairman Of Medinvest Associates Ltd". Winne.com. 1999-01-14. http://www.winne.com/topinterviews/gamal.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Feb. 3 interview with Christine Amanpour
- ^ Aziz, Muhammad Abdul and Hussein, Youssef (2002) "The President, the Son, and the Military: Succession in Egypt" Arab Studies Journal 9/10: pp. 73–88
- ^ Brownlee, Jason (2008) "The Heir Apparency of Gamal Mubarak" Arab Studies Journal pp. 36–56
- ^ Sobelman, Daniel (2001) "Gamal Mubarak, President of Egypt?" Middle East Quarterly 8(2): pp. 31–40
- ^ http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/egypt/?id=16096
- ^ http://mengos.net/events/04newsevents/egypt/september/9september04.htm]
- ^ Omar Suleiman, new Egyptian vice-president
- ^ a b "Egypt insider: Mubarak's fall was years in the making | McClatchy". Mcclatchydc.com. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/02/13/108650/egypt-insider-mubaraks-fall-was.html. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ "Sons of Egypt's Mubarak nearly came to blows-paper | News by Country | Reuters". Af.reuters.com. 2011-02-13. http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE71C0HQ20110213. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ "حسابات سرية لعائلة مبارك بالبنوك المصرية 147مليون دولار لسوزان و200 مليون لعلاء وجمال". Ahram.org.eg. http://www.ahram.org.eg/457/2011/02/28/25/64884.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ "5مارس أولى جلسات النظر في تجميد أرصدة مبارك..و26مارس محاكمة رشيد وعز وعسل | الدستور". Dostor.org. 2011-02-28. http://dostor.org/crime/11/february/28/37187. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
External links
- Interview with Gamal Mubarak: "We Need Audacious Leaders", Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2009
- Egypt: Time of the Reformers, Interview by Pascal Drouhaud, Politique internationale, n° 120, Paris, 2008
- Daniel Sobelman, "Gamal Mubarak: President of Egypt?", Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2001
- National Democratic Party
- Amnesty International's 2005 Report on Egypt
- BBC: "Mubarak son raises public profile", September 10, 2004.
- MSNBC: "Stage set for political dynasty in Egypt?", July 28, 2004.
- Foreign Policy: "Is Gamal Mubarak the Best Hope for Egyptian Democracy? | The Middle East Channel". Mideast.foreignpolicy.com. http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/20/is_gamal_mubarak_the_best_hope_for_egyptian_democracy_0. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- Egypt Has a Right to Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes. Nuclear Energy - a Possible Alternative in the Future 9/20/2006
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