Mubarak, two sons detained in rare move

CNN Wire Staff

Cairo (CNN) - Egyptians exulted Wednesday over the detention of their ailing former president and his two sons in a probe exploring the killing of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the center of the country's dramatic uprising earlier this year.

Former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons, Gamal and Alaa, were taken into 15-day detainment Tuesday in connection with the protesters' deaths, according to Ahmed Hemeida with the Justice Ministry.

Mubarak has decried accusations of his responsibility in the deaths, saying the probe is aimed at tarnishing his reputation and that of his family. The detention and questioning of the former authoritarian leader is unprecedented in the modern Arab world. Saddam Hussein, Iraq's late leader, was captured by U.S. troops and put on trial after his regime was toppled more than eight years ago.

But Mubarak's case is different because his detention didn't involve the West. In contrast to Saddam's case, the government made the arrest amid domestic demands that he be held.

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