Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the longtime leader of the country who was overthrown in the midst of an Arab Spring revolt, died Tuesday at age 91 in Egypt, state TV reported.
Mubarak died at a Cairo hospital after going through surgery following health complications, state TV reported, according to The Associated Press and Reuters.
The former U.S. ally and the autocratic leader, fought against Islamic militancy and maintained peace between Egypt, Israel and Palestinians within his nearly 30-year rule, before 18 days of street protests in 2011 resulted in his removal from office.
After he was overthrown, a struggle between the military and previously banned Muslim Brotherhood resulted in President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi taking over from the first freely elected president, the AP reported.
El-Sissi declared the state would designate three days of mourning starting Wednesday and commended Mubarak for his service in the 1973 war with Israel.
“The Presidency mourns with great sorrow the former President of the Republic, Mr. Mohammed Hosni Mubarak,” he said in a statement obtained by the AP.
Mubarak was thrust into leadership by the Islamic extremist assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, according to the news outlets. The leader attempted to retain power, but eventually, the general population’s push for a democratic future became his undoing.
The former president resigned in February of 2011 after his National Democratic Party’s call to claim 90 percent of parliament seats in an election led to public outrage. The revolt in Tunisia gave Egyptians the motivation to protest using social media to gather the dissatisfied.
Mubarak was initially sentenced to life for conspiring to murder protesters, but a higher court appealed this decision. He was released after serving for corruption charges in 2017.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he experienced “deep sorrow” because of the leader’s death.
“President Mubarak, a personal friend of mine, was a leader who guided his people to peace and security, to peace with Israel,” Netanyahu said, according to the AP.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also mourned the leader saying he “spent his life serving his homeland and the issues of righteousness and justice in the world, with the issue of our Palestinian people at the top of them,” the AP reported.