SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – A court in Egypt has dropped the case against Hosni Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. He was also cleared of a corruption charge involving gas exports to Israel. Mubarak, 86, is serving a separate three-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds.
The court also cleared Mubarak’s former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly and six other security officials of wrongdoing over the deaths in 2011. Mubarak and his former interior minister were convicted of conspiracy to kill and sentenced to life in prison in June 2012 but a retrial was ordered last year. Relatives of those killed in 2011 had awaited Saturday’s verdict with trepidation.
Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali, whose wife was killed, had little faith in the judiciary, believing it simply did the government’s bidding. “The regime is the same,” he told AP news agency. “Names have changed but everything is the same.”
Amal Shaker, mother of 25-year-old Ahmed who was fatally shot in the back during the 2011 uprising, said before the announcement that she was still waiting for justice. “Youth that were like flowers were killed,” she told AP news agency. “Four years have passed, where is the trial?”
www.shafaqna.com/english