Mubarak sons to face fresh trial on July 9

Cairo: Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s sons will face a new trial on July 9 on insider trading charges after being acquitted by another court in a separate graft case, state media reported today. [caption id=“attachment_341232” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Mubarak’s sons Gamal and Alaa Mubarak walk after being sentenced in Cairo. Reuters”]  [/caption] Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, who are being held in prison pending trial, were acquitted from another case on corruption and influence peddling along with their 84-year-old father this month. The brothers are accused of insider trading in Egypt’s stock market along with seven others, MENA news agency reported. The sons along with seven other persons are in provisional detention pending their trial for illegally obtaining around 2.51 billion Egyptian pounds from the sale of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), a statement by Assistant Prosecutor General Counsellor Adel el-Saeed had earlier said. Gamal was the head of a powerful policy committee under Mubarak’s rule and was widely seen as the heir apparent. Alaa, was suspected to have amassed wealth using his father’s influence. Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 2 for complicity in the killing of protesters to his 30-year rule. Mubarak’s health deteriorated further as he was slipping in and out of coma yesterday in a prison hospital and was at risk of suffering a stroke any time. PTI