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Egyptian court orders Hosni Mubarak retrial Egyptian court orders Hosni Mubarak retrial
(about 3 hours later)
An Egyptian court has accepted Hosni Mubarak's appeal against his life sentence, ordering a retrial of the former president. Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will be retried for the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted him after a Cairo court accepted his appeal.
Mubarak was convicted and sentenced to life in June for failing to prevent the killing of about 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 29-year rule. Mubarak will be retried alongside his then interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who along with the former president was sentenced to a life term last July for failing to prevent the killing of protesters by security forces. Six of Adly's aides who were acquitted in the initial trial will also be retried.
The verdict on Sunday, read out by Judge Ahmed Ali Abdel-Rahman during a brief hearing, also granted the right of appeal to Mubarak's security chief, Habib el-Adly, who is also serving a life sentence after his conviction on the same charges. Adly, too, will be retried. Mubarak will remain under arrest on charges recently brought against him concerning the millions of Egyptian pounds that he and others received as gifts from the country's biggest state-owned newspaper, al-Ahram. Also acquitted in the initial trial were Mubarak's sons, Alaa and king-in-waiting Gamal. They remain in jail on other charges relating to financial crimes and abuse of power.
Mubarak will not walk free, as he is being held for investigation on other charges. The defendants were not present in the courtroom. The 84-year-old former president is in a military hospital. News of the retrial was greeted by both Mubarak's opponents and his few remaining supporters. For his supporters – who celebrated the court decision – the retrial offers the hope that the former dictator will be able to spend his remaining years outside the military hospital in which he resides. For opponents, it represents a chance to build a stronger case against him and his police commanders for the violence perpetrated against protesters.
Defence lawyers had argued that Mubarak did not know of the killings, but an Egyptian fact-finding mission has determined that he watched the uprising against him unfold through a live TV feed at his palace. It may also present an opportunity for Mubarak's successor, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi. The beleaguered Morsi needs strong convictions against the Mubarak coterie, especially as most of the police chiefs on the ground during the January 2011 revolt have been acquitted.
The mission's report could hold both political opportunities and dangers for Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. A new trial would be popular, since many Egyptians were angered he was convicted for failing to stop the killings, rather than ordering the crackdown. In the contentious decree he issued last November, Morsi ordered the retrial of Mubarak and other former regime stalwarts, only to be told that by law new evidence was needed to trigger a retrial.
But the report also implicates the military and security officials in the protesters' deaths. Any move to prosecute them could spark a backlash from the powerful police and others who still hold positions under Morsi's government. An independent fact-finding commission has since found that – contrary to defence claims during the trial – Mubarak knew of the killings via a live feed he watched at the presidential palace.
Abdel-Rahman also granted the prosecution's request to overturn not-guilty verdicts on Mubarak, his two sons and an associate of the former president, Hussein Salem, on corruption charges. Salem was tried in absentia and remains at large to this day. Morsi also contentiously removed Egypt's public prosecutor, replacing him with his own appointment. Since Egyptian law prevented the dismissal of the public prosecutor, Morsi changed the law that governed the appointment, a move that was seen as an attack on the independence of the judiciary.
The judge also ordered the retrial of six of Adly's senior aides who were acquitted in the same trial. Five of them were found not guilty of involvement in the killing of the protesters, while one was acquitted of gross negligence. Egypt's prosecution service had been severely criticised for not building strong enough cases against members of the Mubarak regime, and many blamed the public prosecutor, a Mubarak appointment.
No date has been set for the start of the retrial of the 11 and it was not immediately clear if they would be brought before the same court, as was the case in their first trial. However, Morsi's move did not have the requisite populist effect as the decree also included law articles that granted him extraordinary powers and judicial immunity, privileges he extended to a constituent assembly that drafted Egypt's constitution.
Sunday's ruling came a day after a prosecutor placed a detention order on Mubarak over gifts worth millions of Egyptian pounds he and other regime officials allegedly received from an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram, as a show of loyalty while he was in power. The constitution passed in a referendum amid much protest and polarisation, damaging Morsi's standing. His supporters hope a stronger conviction in the Mubarak trial would repair some of the damage.
The public funds prosecutor ordered Mubarak to be held for 15 days pending the completion of the investigation. He was moved to a Cairo military hospital last month after slipping inside a prison bathroom and injuring himself.
Mubarak's sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and businessman Alaa, are in prison while being tried for alleged insider trading and using their influence to buy state land at a fraction of its market price.