Egypt court orders dissolution of political party of former President Hosni Mubarak

The Higher Administrative Court in Cairo ordered on Saturday the dissolution of the political party of former President Hosni Mubarak, one of the demands of the protesters who ended his 30-year rule. It also ordered the liquidation of the assets of the National Democratic Party (NDP), with the funds to be returned to the state.

The NDP was fighting for its survival after protests forced the strongman to resign on February 11 and much of its senior leadership is now behind bars on suspicion of corruption. Others such as Hossam Badrawi, who briefly led the party before resigning in protest when Mubarak tarried in stepping down, either defected or are planning to form a new party.

The NDP dominated Egyptian politics since it was set up by Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar el-Sadat, in 1978.
  
Talaat Sadat, the late president's nephew, was appointed as the new head of the party after the revolt. Sources said he was at Saturday's hearing, after which opponents of the party began chanting "The NDP is illegitimate."
  
Some NDP properties were inherited from the previous incarnation of the ruling party in Sadat's time, while others are leased from private owners, its members claim. There are also separate, private lawsuits demanding the return of some of the buildings to their owners.

The party's headquarters were torched during the protests that led Mubarak to step down in February, and are now being fought over by the Cairo governorate, which wants to turn it into a park and the Egyptian Museum across the street.
  
Its remaining members had hoped to contest the upcoming parliamentary election in September and argued that they had cut ties with corrupt party officials and apologized to Egyptians for "party mistakes."