Mubarak

Former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak has reportedly been placed under detention in his hospital room in Sharm el-Sheikh. Mubarak has been there since last night, when he is thought to have had a heart attack. The AP reports:

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was put under detention in his hospital room Wednesday for investigation on accusations of corruption, abuse of power, and the killing of protesters in a dramatic step Wednesday that brought celebrations from the movement that drove him from office.

According to reports, Mubarak will likely not be in Sharm el-Sheikh for long, if he is even still there now. As the Guardian reports, "It is believed Mubarak is to be transferred by military plane from Sharm el-Sheikh to a military hospital in Cairo, although the prosecutor-general has said his interrogations may have to take place outside the capital for security reasons."

As for Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa, the AP reports that they have been "detained for questioning and taken to Cairo's Torah prison, where a string of former top regime figures — including the former prime minister, head of the ruling party and Mr. Mubarak‘s chief of staff — already are languishing, facing similar investigations on corruption."

The Christian Science Monitor calls "Mubarak and sons' detention a victory for Egypt's opposition."

While there is scattered sympathy for Mubarak, public anger far outweighs it. Last Friday, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square to demand their former president, his family, and his cronies be put on trial for allegedly using state funds for personal gain... 

According to Professor Sayyid, the detentions of top figures represent a victory for the secular groups that had organized renewed protests to press the issue. While the Muslim Brotherhood had announced it would take part in last Friday’s protest, it had not supported a similar protest the week before that laid the ground for the huge gathering.

“This is also a response to the pressure of secular groups of young people,” he says. “This shows a new relation of power in the country, with the secular groups deciding what should be done and the Muslim Brothers are left out.”

UPDATE: On Friday the Army made its decision. Mubarak was forced out. His Thursday speech was a disaster and it seems to have helped persuade the generals that they had, at last, to choose between Mubarak and the people. They made the right choice.

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Who rules Egypt, and who will rule it tomorrow? After 30 years the Hosni Mubarak period is coming to a close, but how the period ends—in violence and turmoil, or on a stable path to democracy—remains unclear.