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Ḥosnī Mubārak, 1982. (credit: Barry Iverson/Gamma)

(born May 4, 1928, Al-Minfiyyah governorate, Egypt) President of Egypt (19812011). He attended a Soviet air academy and, as air force commander (from 1972), planned Egypt's opening moves in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Named vice president in 1975, he became president on Anwar el-Sdt's assassination in 1981. He maintained relations with Israel while working to restore Egypt to its traditional position as the most influential of the Arab states. In the 1990s Mubrak's government faced a rise in domestic terrorism, and he survived several assassination attempts. In 2005 he easily won Egypt's first multicandidate presidential election. The first credible challenge to his authority occurred in 2011, when thousands of Egyptians rallied to protest against the repression, corruption, and poverty present under his regime, calling for him to step down. After more than two weeks of protests, Mubrak stepped down as president and left the military in control of the country.

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