Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sits inside a cage in a courtroom at the police academy in Cairo yesterday. The retrial of Mubarak was aborted when the presiding judge withdrew from the case and referred it to another court, causing an indefinite delay that sparked anger in the courtroom.
CAIRO: The judge in ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s retrial stepped aside yesterday, in a chaotic opening hearing that lasted just seconds and saw a proud and combative Mubarak smile and wave in the dock.
Head judge Mostafa Hassan Abdallah told the court he would recuse himself and send the case to the Court of Appeal, which will then refer the trial to a new circuit, sending the case of the ex-strongman back to square one.
As the judges filed out of the courtroom, uproar erupted with people shouting and waving their arms. Civil society lawyers attending the trial chanted: “The people want the execution of the president.”
In October, the same judge had acquitted defendants in the infamous “Battle of the Camels” trial, who were accused of sending men on camels and horses to break up a protest during the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.
“This judge and this circuit acquitted all the defendants in the battle of the camels and there is a lot of doubt over their position. This prevents him from conducting this trial,” said Amir Salem, a lawyer for the families of victims.
Mubarak, his former interior minister Habib Al Adly and six security chiefs were in the dock — albeit briefly — for their alleged complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters on January 25-31, 2011.
The former president and Adly had both received life sentences in a first trial in June, but all six of the security chiefs were acquitted, sparking protests across the country. Months of rumours that Mubarak was too weak to attend his retrial were put to rest yesterday when the former leader seemed healthy as he sat up in a stretcher in the defendants’ cage, smiling and waving to supporters.
“We love you, big man!” a handful of his supporters yelled at him.
His sons Alaa and Gamal, who are also facing a new trial for corruption, appeared to be in good spirits as they smiled and chatted with their father.
Earlier yesterday, television footage showed Mubarak wheeled out of an ambulance on a stretcher and taken into the Police Academy in a Cairo suburb for the hearing.
A handful of supporters outside the courthouse held up posters of their former leader, chanting: “Where are the days of Mubarak?” but they were outnumbered by security personnel.
Mubarak was flown to the academy that was once named after him by helicopter from the Cairo military hospital where he is being treated, the official MENA news agency said. AFP
