Hosni Mubarak and friends - 1

Mubarak was appointed Vice President of Egypt in 1975, and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar El Sadat. The length of his presidency made him Egypt’s longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rising to the rank of air chief marshal.

During 18 days of protests beginning on 25 January 2011, demonstrators called for Mubarak’s resignation. On 11 February, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned as president and transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. On that day Mubarak and his family left the presidential palace in Cairo and moved to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.