Egypt’s Mubarak to face murder retrial verdict

An Egyptian court will rule Saturday in the murder retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak, whose 2011 overthrow unleashed almost four years of turmoil capped by the election of another military man. Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for three decades, and seven of his former police commanders are accused of involvement in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that toppled him. An appeals court overturned his initial life sentence on a technicality. The same court will also deliver its verdict on corruption charges levelled against Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal.

I have no confidence, given the past rulings, either against the criminals of the Mubarak regime or the revolutionaries. The trials follow the political climate.”

Gamal Eid, a rights lawyer who represented Mubarak’s alleged victims in court

Mubarak, separately sentenced to three years in prison for corruption, told the court that at the age of 86 he was approaching the end of his life “with a good conscience”. “The Hosni Mubarak before you would never have ordered the killings of protesters,” he said in August in a lengthy speech that touted economic achievements many Egyptians now remember with nostalgia. Egypt is now ruled by former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who won May’s presidential election. He has emphasised law and order at the expense of freedom to protest, a popular stance among Egyptians fed up with the chaos and economic ruin of their experiment with democracy.

Middle East