Cairo: Voices have risen in Egypt calling for recognising the role of former president Hosni Mubarak in the 1973 war against Israel, which Egyptians perceive as a victory.
Mubarak, who was forced to step down in a 2011 uprising, was the chief of the Egyptian Air Force when the war began on October 6.
Egypt on Thursday celebrated the 43rd anniversary of the war that in its early days dealt a military blow to Israel and opened the door for both countries to sign a peace treaty in 1979.
During his rule of nearly 30 years, Mubarak was always lionised in the media as the initiator of the first air strike against Israel in the 1973 war. But since his toppling, the name of Mubarak has been removed from public facilities and his role in the 1973 war has almost been ignored. The main station of Cairo subway, which once bore his name, is now officially called Al Shuhada, or Martyrs.
Over the past few days, several commentators have criticised what they called “ingratitude” to Mubarak.
“Today [Thursday] Mubarak has the right to isolate himself from others and weep after he has seen his name marginalised while the October victory is celebrated,” said columnist Sabri Goneim.
“Isn’t this Hosni Mubarak whom we used to sing his praises as the victorious initiator of the air strike in the war?” Goneim wrote on Thursday in influential private newspaper Al Masry Al Youm.
The paper carried a profile of the former president titled ‘Mubarak, the key to victory.’
The semi-official newspaper Al Ahram also ran a small picture showing Mubarak clad in a military uniform along with other army commanders who fought in the 1973 war.
However, most of the praise in the media was devoted to Mubarak’s predecessor Anwar Al Sadat, who ruled Egypt at the time of the war and later picked Mubarak to be his deputy.
Earlier this week, a news anchor on state television was suspended after he lauded Mubarak’s war role.
Television authorities said that presenter George Rashad had been stopped from hosting the ‘Good Morning, Egypt’ show in a disciplinary action after he “deviated from a prepared text” for the programme.
In a televised address marking the war anniversary on Wednesday, President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, a former defence minister, praised the army for its “national devotion”, but without referring to Mubarak.
“The October war taught us that the special relation binding the Egyptian people and its armed forces is the key to victory,” Al Sissi said.
Mubarak, 87, has stayed mostly at an army hospital in the southern Cairo quarter of Maadi since his ouster.
In November, Egypt’s top appeals court will resume his retrial on charges related to protester killings during the revolt against his regime.
The case, locally known as the ‘Trial of the Century,’ opened in August 2011 amid media hype in Egypt and the Arab world.
In June 2013, a criminal court convicted Mubarak and his interior minister Habib Al Adli of failing to prevent the killing of protesters and sentenced both to life imprisonment. The sentences were later revoked on appeal.
In November 2014, another court dismissed the criminal charges against Mubarak and acquitted Al Adly, a verdict that angered Mubarak’s opponents.
In June last year, the Court of Cassation, the country’s top appeals court, ordered a retrial for Mubarak after granting an appeal from the country’s chief prosecutor against the dismissal of the charges.
