Habib Ibrahim El-Adly ( ar, حبيب إبراهيم العادلي, ; born 1 March 1938) is a former Egyptian politician. He served as interior minister of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
from November 1997 to January 2011. He was the longest serving interior minister under President
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
.
Following the
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
, Adly was convicted of
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
and conspiring to kill protestors and was sentenced to life in prison. This conviction was later dropped.
Early life and education
El-Adly was born in 1938.
He graduated from the police academy in 1959.
Career
In 1965, Adly joined the
State Security Investigations Service
The State Security Investigations Service ( arz, مباحث أمن الدولة ) was the highest national internal security authority in Egypt. Estimated to employ 100,000 personnel, the SSI was the main security and intelligence apparatus of Eg ...
. After working at various investigation departments, he was employed at the foreign ministry from 1982 to 1984. He then investigated state security matters, and became assistant interior minister in 1993. He replaced
General Hassan Al Alfi as interior minister following the
November 1997 Luxor massacre
The Luxor massacre was the killing of 62 people, mostly tourists, on 17 November 1997, at Deir el-Bahari, an archaeological site and major tourist attraction across the Nile from Luxor, Egypt.
Attack
Deir el-Bahari is one of Egypt's top touri ...
. Adly was one of the most significant figures who supported
Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
during his reign.
Adly served as interior minister in two different cabinets.
[ He was replaced by ]Mahmoud Wagdy
Mahmoud Wagdy (, born 23 March 1948) is an Egyptian politician and a former minister of interior.
Early life and education
Wagdy was born in 1948. He graduated from the Police Academy 1968.
Career
Wagdy was the head of Cairo criminal investiga ...
on 31 January 2011 as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at appeasing the mass protests during 2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
.
Post-revolution
During the uprising, the Egyptian attorney general announced Adly had been given a travel ban. Following Mubarak's resignation, Adly and two other former ministers were arrested on corruption charges. His assets were ordered frozen by a court order. Adly is estimated to have amassed a fortune of 1.2 billion US dollars. He pleaded not guilty to corruption charges on 5 March 2011, answering questions by the judge on whether he had illegally profited from his government position or laundered money by saying "that did not happen."[MacFarquhar, Neil. Stack, Liam]
Ex-Security Chief Hauled to Court as Egyptians Storm His Compound
''The New York Times'', 5 March 2011. On 5 May 2011, Adly was found guilty of fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
and money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
and sentenced to 12 years in prison. In June 2012, Adly, along with deposed President Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
, was found guilty of conspiring to kill protestors during the uprising and was sentenced to life in prison in May 2012. In March 2013, the conviction for fraud and money laundering was overturned by the Court of Cassation
A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...
and a retrial was requested.
On retrial, Adly was acquitted on all charges relating to complicity in the killing of protesters as well as using political influence for private gain. and was released from detention in March, 2015.
In April 2017, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison, based on charges of embezzling about $122 million. In May 2018, the Cairo Court of Appeal began the retrial of former interior minister Adly and a number of other ministers. Together they are charged with siphoning off public funds from the ministry in an amount exceeding LE 2 billion in the period between 2000 and 2011.
In May 2019, Egyptian authorities unfrozen his assets, after he had been acquitted on all corruption-related charges.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adly, Habib Ibrahim El-
1938 births
Living people
Egyptian prisoners and detainees
Egyptian politicians convicted of crimes
Egyptian Sunni Muslims
Politicians from Cairo
Interior Ministers of Egypt
National Democratic Party (Egypt) politicians
People convicted of money laundering
Politicians convicted of fraud
People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011
Egyptian politicians convicted of corruption
Prisoners and detainees of Egypt
People convicted of attempted murder
20th-century Egyptian politicians
21st-century Egyptian politicians