Lawsuit to prevent Mubarak’s family from running for office postponed to November 25

A court case filed to prevent family members of the late deposed President Hosny Mubarak from running for high-ranking government positions was postponed on Saturday by the Court of Administrative Justice to November 25.

Mubarak’s sons Gamal and Alaa were sentenced alongside their father to three years in jail in May 2015 for embezzling at least LE125 million in public funds earmarked for maintaining presidential mansions. The prison sentence, covered by time served, was followed by a temporary withdrawal of certain political rights that ended last year.

The new case, filed as presidential elections are expected to take place soon, seeks to reopen investigations into the family’s funds and reinstate the suspension of political rights, including the right to run for top government positions.

National Center for Citizenship and Human Rights Support Director Abdel Salam Ismail filed the lawsuit before the State Council to dispute what he described as a “negative decision” taken by the justice minister to halt the pursuit of funds embezzled by the Mubarak family, demanding that investigations be reopened with the two brothers on “illicit gain” charges.

The lawsuit demands that the Finance Ministry confiscate all funds found to have been embezzled by the Mubarak family, whether they exist in Egypt or abroad and are liquidated or tied up in real estate.

Before regaining their political rights last year, Gamal announced that he had been “exonerated” by the European Union’s General Court from corruption and money laundering charges filed in Europe and elsewhere.

Rumors and discussions around Gamal potentially running in the upcoming presidential elections, and whether he would be allowed to run in the first place, have been circulating in the months leading up to the elections.

In July, National Dialogue General Coordinator Diaa Rashwan addressed Mubarak’s potential candidacy in TV statements, saying that it is up to the National Elections Authority to determine the eligibility of all candidates. The law regulating the elections authority is “clear,” said Rashwan, in banning those who have a final criminal court ruling issued against them from running in presidential elections. But the law also allows for individuals to appeal against decisions by the election authority before a court, he said.

A 2014 law regulating presidential elections stipulates that candidates “shall not have been convicted of a felony or crime involving a breach of honor or trust, even if they have been rehabilitated.” However, it doesn’t define explicitly what constitutes “a breach or honor or trust.”

Also speaking in July, outspoken state-aligned MP Mostafa Bakry asserted in a TV interview that the 2015 ruling definitively disqualifies Mubarak from running.