Mubarak’s old guards are returning back to the scene. Habib al-Adly, the last Interior Minister during Mubarak era, has returned back to the Egyptian scene through a “Media Empire”. Al-Wafd, organ of the Egyptian Wafd Party, reported that the former Interior Minister and one of the most controversial figures of Mubarak’s inner circle, Habib Al-Adli, will return to the Egyptian scene through a satellite channel, newspaper and a website under the supervision of his wife, Journalist Elham Sharshar who will be the chief editor of both the newspaper and the website.
Some sources unveiled to al-Wafd that the media project was established a few months ago. Many meetings were held with a significant number of journalists to enable the former minister’s wife in the new project and its administration. The sources also reported that the website and the newspaper will have the name of the “al-Zaman”. The media empire will work on returning back al-Adly to the scene once again as it tries to improve his picture in front of the public opinion.
The leaders of the al-Adly’s media project have chosen a building viewing al-Tahrir Square, which witnessed the January Revolution against al-Adly’s policies, to be the headquarters for the coming project. The sources stated that some journalists refused to attend the meeting to avoid the controversial feedback on supporting al-Adly, while others refused to take the responsibility of such project in order not to be accused of supporting the former men of Mubarak’s regime. But the sources believe that al-Adly will most probably reconsider his calculations regarding the satellite channel as it would be better to buy an established channel that is already working with the support of some of the National Democratic Party’s (NDP – the ruling party under Mubarak’s rule) businessmen instead of establishing a new one.
Habib Al-Adly, a key figure of Mubarak’s regime, was accused of killing protesters during January Revolution 2011. He was also accused of corruption and he was found guilty of fraud and money laundering on May 5, 2011. Al-Adly along with Mubarak was found guilty of conspiring to kill protesters during the revolution and was sentenced to life prison in May 2012. In 2013, the conviction was overturned by the Court of Cassation and a retrial was requested. On retrial, al-Adly was acquitted. He was released from detention in March 2016.
