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Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan, dies in Dubai at 79

U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf shake hands after speaking to reporters in the East Room of the White House in September 2006. The two presidents met earlier in the Oval Office to discuss terrorism and other matters. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI
U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf shake hands after speaking to reporters in the East Room of the White House in September 2006. The two presidents met earlier in the Oval Office to discuss terrorism and other matters. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan who pledged help in the United States' war against Al Qaeda after the 9/11 terror attacks, died Sunday in Dubai. He was 79.

His death was announced by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations, the public relations agency for the country's military.

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"May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family," the statement reads.

Musharraf seized power of Pakistan in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and served as the country's president from 2001 to 2008.

He supported the U.S. war on terrorism despite opposition and anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and was defeated in the 2008 election.

Musharraf fled the country after his defeat but returned in 2013 to try to contest the election and was arrested for treason on allegations that he was involved in the assassinations of two other politicians and sentenced to death.

The death sentence was later annulled by the Lahore High Court and Musharraf left Pakistan for Dubai three years later to seek medical treatment.

Musharraf's family said in a statement last year that he was being treated with the experimental drug Daratumumab for amyloidosis, a rare disease that occurs when a protein called amyloid builds up in organs.

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Pakistani President Arif Alvi expressed his condolences for Musharraf's death in a statement on Twitter, as well as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

However, both leaders received backlash from people in Pakistan who still view Musharraf as a traitor who escaped justice.

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