Cairo court delays Mubarak verdict until November

Reporting from Cairo —  Cairo’s Criminal Court has delayed until Nov. 29 its verdict in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his two sons and ex-Interior Minister Habib Adly, who are charged with ordering the murders of over 800 peaceful protesters in the January 2011 revolution.

The court announced that it still needs time to review all the case evidence before it can issue the verdict’s reasoning. Prior to announcing the postponement, a video showing the examination of 160,000 pages of evidence was televised on the independent satellite Sada El-Balad TV channel, which has exclusive rights to broadcast the trial.

Minor clashes erupted between scores of Mubarak supporters and plaintiffs’ families and sympathizers outside the Police Academy, where hearings are being held. No major casualties were reported.

Mubarak was previously convicted and handed a life sentence for the same charges in 2012, before he successfully appealed the verdict on technical grounds. A retrial commenced last April.

In August, Mubarak was allowed to defend himself in court for the first time ever. He gave a long speech, emphasizing that he “never handed down orders for the killing of Egyptian” protesters.

The former autocrat, whose rule was ended in the aftermath of the 2011 revolt, is serving a three-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds. His two sons Gamal and Alaa were given four-year sentences and fined $3 million after their convictions in the same case.

Recently, a number of witnesses have altered their court testimonies in favor of the 86-year-old Mubarak, who for health reasons has been serving the duration of his detention pending the two trials at a military hospital in Cairo.

Hassan is a special correspondent.