Cairo - Akram Ali
Supporters of Hosni Mubarak are apparently celebrating the ousted Egyptian president's 84th birthday - on Facebook. Children of Mubarak (his supporters) uploaded an image of the former president on Mubarak's Facebook page and wrote wishes such as“Happy birthday president ... blessed day." The page published the phone numbers of the International Medical Centre, where Mubarak has been admitted, to help those who wish to congratulate him on his birthday. It also published the address of the centre and Mubarak's full name so that his supporters could send a congratulatory letter to him. This is the second year in a row that Mubarak has celebrated his birthday in the medical centre, in which he is detained on charges of murder, pertaining to the deaths of demonstrators in Egypt's January 25 revolution. He has also been charged with embezzling public funds, along with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, his interior minister Habib al-Adli, his top aides and fugitive businessman Hussein Salem. Mubarak last celebrated his birthday in 2010 when national newspapers allocated special pages for his birthday and loyal editors wrote gushing articles about him. The president was born on May 4 in 1928 and came to the throne after the assassination of his predecessor president Anwar Sadat on October 6 in 1981 to become the fourth president of Egypt. The period of his reign (until stepping down in 2011) is considered the fourth longest reign in the Arab region. His rule was characterised by numerous political, economic and social crises. The Egyptian public eventually forced him to step down after the a 2011 uprising spurred by similar events in Tunisia. Mubarak is the first Arab leader to be directly charged with killing demonstrators in the events of the revolution. He is being tried before a civilian court, headed by Ahmed Fahmy, which began its proceedings on August 3 last year. The verdict on his fate is set for June 2. He is considered the first president in Egypt and the Arab world to witness a new elected president, atypical to a region whose regimes are decided either by hereditary families or political assassinations, similar to what happened to Sadat, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan and others. The Egyptian attorney general Abdel-Megid Mahmoud warranted Mubarak's imprisonment in connection with an investigation on charges against him on April 13 last year. His trial began last August, after which it took almost eight months to determine the day of the verdict. Mubarak has apparently been bedridden between the court and the International Medical Centre throughout this period. According to military law, Mubarak is still considered a member of the armed forces. If the former president dies, a military funeral will be held as long as no verdict on the charges against him has been issued.