Gamal Mubarak

Gamal Mubarak (Arabic: جمال مبارك, December 27, 1963-) is the younger of former President Muhammed Hosni Mubarak's two sons. He was also former Deputy Secretary General of al-Hizb al-Watani al-Dimuqrati (the National Democratic Party), and, before the 2011 Revolution, was widely thought to be Mubarak's successor as Egyptian president.

In May 2007, he married Khadiga Al-Gammal, daughter of famous businessman Mahmud Al-Gammal. They have a daughter, Farida, who was born in 2010.

Gamal Mubarak (Source: Al-Ahram)

Education and Career

Gamal Mubarak studied at St George Preparatory School in Heliopolis, Cairo, where he completed his IGCSE degree (the British system) in the year 1980. He enrolled at the American University in Cairo where he received both his bachelor's degree (in 1985) and master's in business.

Gamal began working for the Bank of America in Egypt before being sent "to represent the bank's interests in London, where he remained for six and a half years, working in the field of finance investments." In 1998, he cofounded a private equity fund called MedInvest Associates, Ltd with colleagues in London.

Political Career

Gamal Mubarak kept himself quite visible in the business and political arenas. In 1998, he created "the Future Generation Foundation [FGF], a nongovernmental organization to train young entrepreneurs in Egypt." He was also appointed as General Secretariat of the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in 2000, and that marked the beginning of his political career. In 2002, he became Policy Secretariat and intended to pass "legislation to abolish Egypt's state security courts, remove the penal code's labor penalty, and create a National Council for Human Rights" but failed to do so. It was not long before people began to speculate that Gamal was being groomed for the presidency after his father. Amendments made in 2005 and 2007 to the constitution regarding the presidential elections and eligibility of candidates appeared to be favoring Gamal and to be pushing opponents out of the way. Despite the efforts, Gamal's popularity remained limited to the upper-middle class. There were, however, "persistent reports that Egypt’s military leaders and members of the NDP old guard were skeptical of his leadership abilities".

Popular resistance movements against Gamal like the Egyptian Movement for Change -Kefaya (Enough!)- and the April 6th Youth Movement started coalescing in response to the predicted almost monarchical succession of Gamal to the presidency. Gamal's supporters also launched campaigns like the Popular Coalition for Supporting Gamal Mubarak to counter these opposition movements.

After January 25, 2011

It is speculated that one of the political reasons for the 2011 Revolution was the popular belief that Gamal would be Egypt's next president. During the protests, Gamal Mubarak kept a low profile, leading some to suspect that he fled to London. On February 3, and in an attempt to placate the masses, newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman was quoted as saying that Gamal Mubarak would not be running for president. Two days later, Gamal resigned from his post and the NDP crumbled. On February 22, Egypt's Attorney General asked that the Mubaraks' assets be frozen pending investigation of fraud and corruption charges. Local newspapers often exaggerated numbers, claiming that Suzanne Mubarak had 147 million dollars in a secret bank account, while Gamal and his older brother Ala' had 200 million. Gamal and Ala' were detained for questioning in April "on accusations of corruption and of instigating the use of violence against demonstrators". They were both sent to Tura prison in Cairo.

The first session of the trial of Gamal, Ala' and Hosni Mubarak and their entourage started in August 2011. It was inconclusive and was postponed several times. The session on September 24 was supposed to be of paramount importance for it was when Field Marshal Muhammad Hussain Tantawi was scheduled to give his testimony. What he said in the courtroom has not been disclosed to the public. It was also reported that Gamal supposedly made a rude hand gesture to the victims' attorneys during this session, when they were told that they were not allowed to cross-examine Tantawi.

In February 2012, former head of the news department at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, Abd Al-Latif Al-Minawi, who wrote a book after the Revolution entitled Tahrir: The Last 18 Days of Mubarak, claimed that Gamal, not Hosni Mubarak, was the one to blame for the deterioration of Egypt during the past few years. “Due to his deteriorating health and after the death of his grandson, Mubarak left everything to his son Gamal who became fully in control,” he said in an interview. Gamal was supposedly in charge of the country's domestic affairs and was not allowed to tell his father any bad news. “The result was that Mubarak became totally isolated from what was happening in the country and there was no longer this direct contact between the president and the people like what used to happen in the 1980s and 1990s.”

Other References

Soliman, Samer. "The resurrection of Omar Suleiman". Ahram Online. April 14, 2012. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/39240/Opinion/The-resurrection-of-Omar-Suleiman.aspx Accessed April 156, 2012.