Egypt orders ‘pharaoh’ Mubarak’s name stripped off
Egypt Thursday took another step toward erasing the legacy of deposed president Hosni Mubarak by ordering his name, and that of his family, removed from public institutions across the nation.
Sycophantic officials seeking to curry Mubarak’s favor had resorted to naming everything from streets to schools to military installations and remote, rural clinics after the authoritarian leader many Egyptians call a modern pharaoh.
Mass protests ended Mubarak’s 30-year-rule in February, and a court Thursday ruled it was no longer acceptable for his name, and that of his wife and sons, to be so widely used.
“Officials in the previous administration had named a range of public institutions after Mubarak and his wife with the aim of pleasing him, and for a range of other embarrassing reasons,” the court said in a statement after the ruling.