Relatives of protesters killed during Egypt’s 2011 uprising shout slogans during the retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak in Cairo
(VOA News) Anger erupted Saturday in the Egyptian court retrying ousted president Hosni Mubarak for complicity in the killings of hundreds of protesters, after a judge barred the participation of lawyers representing families of those killed.
The lawyers filing civil suits against Mubarak and his co-defendants had been allowed to attend the first trial, which saw the 85-year-old former leader and his security chief, former interior minister Habib al-Adly, sentenced to life in prison.
But the defendants appealed their convictions, handed down a year ago, and an appeals court granted them a retrial.
The case stems from the 2011 uprising that ended Mubarak’s 30-year rule and made Egypt’s government the second to fall in the Arab Spring after Tunisia’s. Nearly 900 people were killed during Egypt’s revolt.
In addition to Mubarak and Adly, six former security commanders are being tried for the killings, while Mubarak’s two sons face corruption charges. They have all pleaded not guilty. In the first trial, all six police commanders and Mubarak’s sons were acquitted. Mubarak was also acquitted of the corruption charges.
Saturday’s proceedings marked the second hearing in the retrial, which is being conducted under tight security at the Police Academy in Cairo. A third hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 10.
