Hosni Mubarak, the history-maker and its witness

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s testimony before the court in the matter of prison breaks which the Muslim Brotherhood is accused of is truly a historical testimony.

Although the word “historical” is a cliché, Mubarak’s testimony was really historical as he spoke before the court in the presence of Brotherhood leaders including former president Mohammed Mursi and the group’s supreme guide Mohammed Badie.

Mubarak did not say everything he’s got as he refused to talk about some points under the pretext that discussing them requires a permission from the command of the armed Egyptian forces and from the president. By doing so, Mubarak has evoked the spirit of the statesman and the logic of the Egyptian army.

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The man has his merits and his faults. In his famous resignation speech, he actually said that history, and not the emotional screams of protestors back then in January 2011, will inform people what his merits and faults were, and so it was!

One of the most important points which Mubarak shed light on was the role of the dangerous Iranian regime in creating chaos in the Arab world during the strange and suspicious “Arab Spring.”

Mubarak addressed how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself got involved in the scene when due to his joy over what happened in Egypt decided to deliver an address in the Arabic language, and we all remember that moment.

Conspiracy against Egypt

During his testimony, Mubarak said there was a conspiracy against Egypt noting that in a rare occasion that’s the first of its kind, the Iranian supreme leader delivered a Friday sermon on February 4, 2011 in Arabic to encourage chaos in Egypt and fuel violence following the January revolution.

It’s true, and the secret of relations between the Khomeini regime and the Brotherhood have not been entirely revealed. This is not surprising as the Brotherhood’s symbols, whether Egyptians or others, used to praise the Iranian regime. We all know that Iran’s current supreme leader has himself translated some of Sayyid Qutb’s books from Arabic into Persian and that Qutb’s photo has been used on postage stamps.

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What’s more important than these signs that reflect the Khomeini-Brotherhood intermingling are the Brotherhood’s political work with Iran and Iran’s work with the Brotherhood.

Despite all the seemingly passing disputes between them, the two parties are on one boat, the boat of political Islam. Perhaps mutual ideological and political orientations are one of the causes - of course not the only cause – behind the biasness of Erdogan’s Turkey to Iran.

The testimony of Mubarak who is an expert on conspiracies in the Middle East, the Brotherhood’s secrets, the conspiracies of the Khomeini regime and the plots of Erdogan’s authority may have not exposed everything but it’s truly a live testimony on history by one of its makers.

This article is also available in Arabic.
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Saudi journalist Mashari Althaydi presents Al Arabiya News Channel’s “views on the news” daily show “Maraya.” He has previously held the position of a managing senior editor for Saudi Arabia & Gulf region at pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Althaydi has published several papers on political Islam and social history of Saudi Arabia. He appears as a guest on several radio and television programs to discuss the ideologies of extremist groups and terrorists. He tweets under @MAlthaydy.