Egypt begins demolition of deposed President Mubarak's HQ - UPI.com

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Egypt demolishes headquarters of deposed President Mubarak

The Cairo government plans to give the land to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, according to reports.

By Fred Lambert   |   May 31, 2015 at 4:43 PM

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CAIRO, May 31 (UPI) -- The Egyptian government began demolishing the former party headquarters of deposed President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party on Sunday, according to reports.

The four-story building located in Cairo's Tahrir Square had been previously damaged in a fire set by protesters during Mubarak's 2011 ouster.

Construction crews used bulldozers and cranes to begin dismantling the building, along with a nearby 14-story tower that previously housed offices of state organizations, according to Egyptian media.

The Egyptian government approved the demolition in March and said the land would go to the neighboring Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

Earlier this month Deputy Governor for West Cairo Mohamed Ayman Abdel Tawab told Egyptian media that a committee designed to protect Egypt's buildings of architectural heritage previously examined the torched former headquarters of the now-dissolved National Democratic Party and decided that "keeping the building in its current condition is pointless," and that "the fire caused a failure in the structural concrete of the building; thus it represents a serious threat as it might collapse at any time."

However, the Cairo Post quoted Soheir Hawaas, head of the central department for studies at the National Organization for Urban Harmony, as saying the fire did not affect the building's concrete structure and that "the destruction of the building will result in losing part of the country's history."

Hawaas said demolition of the former NDP headquarters "is a blatant violation to the Law no. 144 of 2006, that is applied to any building significant to Egyptian history, reflecting human, artistic, technical, military, or religious aspects."

Earlier this month an Egyptian court sentenced Mubarak and his two sons to three years in prison on embezzlement charges. In November a court dropped murder charges against Mubarak in connection to 800 protesters killed in the 2011 uprising, but Egypt's highest court will decide whether to appeal the lower court's decision in June.