Hosni Mubarak: Egypt court drops murder charges over 2011 killings

A court in Egypt has dropped charges against former President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of 239 protesters during the 2011 uprising against him.

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Cheering supporters brandished old portraits of Mubarak outside the Cairo military hospital where he is being held

The Cairo courtroom erupted in cheers when the judge concluded Mubarak’s retrial by dismissing the case.

Charges against seven of Mr Mubarak’s senior officials, including his interior minister, were also dropped.

Mubarak, 86, is serving a separate three-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds.

Mubarak, his former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly, and six others had been convicted of conspiracy to kill and were sentenced to life in prison in June 2012, but a retrial was ordered last year on a technicality.

In all, some 800 people are thought to have been killed as security forces battled protesters in the weeks before Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011.

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Hosni Mubarak after his retrial in Cairo, 29 November Mubarak waves as he is wheeled out of the court after the verdict

However, the court documents at the trial related to the deaths of 239 people and injuries sustained by 1,588, across 11 of the country’s regions.

Mubarak was wheeled into court on a hospital trolley, wearing sun glasses and looking grim.

As well as the murder charge, Mubarak was also cleared of a corruption charge involving gas exports to Israel.

His sons Gamal and Alaa were also cleared of separate corruption charges by the same court on Saturday.

As supporters cheered the verdict, his sons and co-defendants stooped down to kiss his forehead.

Mubarak’s lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, told AFP news agency the verdict was a “good ruling that proved the integrity of Mubarak’s era”.

BBC

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