Egypt: Hosni Mubarak's retrial to begin on Saturday

Cairo: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s retrial for the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the revolution that ended his dictatorial regime is set to begin on Saturday in the deeply polarised country. 84-year-old Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs will face trial for the killing of protesters during the January 25 revolution. His earlier trial ended in early June 2012, where Mubarak was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the maximum amount of jail time in Egypt. Mubarak challenged the ruling, and the courts granted him a retrial. According to Mubarak’s defense team, he should be released on April 14 if new charges are not issued against him. [caption id=“attachment_697346” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hosni Mubarak. AFP. [/caption] Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah last Sunday ordered that Mubarak stay in detention pending investigations into new charges of squandering public funds. Mubarak’s sons Gamal and Alaa will be retried on corruption charges along with him. Business tycoon Hussein Salem is being tried in absentia. Private Al-Yawm al-Sabi newspaper says new evidence have been found to prove that former Egyptian President and his minister of the interior were involved in killing protesters. Mubarak has suffered several health scares and the state news agency even reported him clinically dead at one point as he slipped into a coma. He is currently being treated at a military hospital in Cairo. President Mohammed Mursi, who won elections last June on the Muslim Brotherhood’s ticket, had pledged new trials for former regime officials, including Mubarak, implicated in the protesters’ deaths. But Mursi’s presidency has been plagued by unrest and deadly clashes between protesters and police, a revolt in the canal cities, sectarian violence and a devastating economic crisis, in what many fear is bringing Egypt to the brink of chaos. There is still widespread anger over the fact that no one has been held accountable for nearly 900 deaths during the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak’s nearly three decade-long regime. PTI