Thursday, July 19, 2012

Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's VP, dies

  • State media says Omar Suleiman died in a U.S. hospital
  • He was disqualified from a recent presidential election
  • Suleiman announced Hosni Mubarak's resignation

(CNN) -- Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice president under Hosni Mubarak who announced the president's resignation to the world, has died in a U.S. hospital, Egypt state-run media reported Thursday.

State-run Nile TV and the state news agency MENA reported Suleiman died in an American hospital, though did not provide details nor did they say where he was being treated at the time of his death.

Suleiman was head of Egypt's intelligence services and served as vice president under Mubarak before his ouster.

In a somber, one-minute television announcement in February 2011, Suleiman announced that Mubarak had his resigned his post as president and said the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces would run the affairs of the country.

The announcement followed an 18-day popular uprising in Egypt that saw tens of thousands take to the street to demand Mubarak's ouster.

Suleiman most recently made headline when he entered the race for Egypt's first democratically-elected president in the eleventh hour and then failed to gather enough signatures required to be on the ballot.

He was disqualified from the election by a panel that included members connected to the Mubarak regime, which suggest his elimination from the presidential race was not politically motivated.

CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report.

 
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