Mubarak to get new trial

CAIRO – An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday overturned Hosni Mubarak’s life sentence and ordered a retrial of the ousted leader in the killing of hundreds of protesters, a ruling likely to further unsettle a nation still reeling from political turmoil and complicate the struggle of his Islamist successor to assert his authority.

The court’s decision put the spotlight back on the highly divisive issue of justice for Mubarak and his top security officers, who were also ordered retried, two years after the revolution that toppled him.

The ruling poses a distraction for President Mohammed Morsi as he tries …

CAIRO – An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday overturned Hosni Mubarak’s life sentence and ordered a retrial of the ousted leader in the killing of hundreds of protesters, a ruling likely to further unsettle a nation still reeling from political turmoil and complicate the struggle of his Islamist successor to assert his authority.

The court’s decision put the spotlight back on the highly divisive issue of justice for Mubarak and his top security officers, who were also ordered retried, two years after the revolution that toppled him.

The ruling poses a distraction for President Mohammed Morsi as he tries to restore law and order, grapple with a wrecked economy and deal with the aftermath of the worst political crisis since Mubarak’s ouster.

The ailing 84-year-old Mubarak is currently being held in a military hospital and will not walk free after Sunday’s decision. He remains under investigation in an unrelated case.

A small crowd of Mubarak loyalists erupted into applause after the ruling was announced. Holding portraits of the former president aloft, they broke into chants of “Long live justice!” Another jubilant crowd later gathered outside the Nile-side Cairo hospital where Mubarak is being held, passing out candies to pedestrians and motorists.

Still, the crowds paled in comparison to the immediate reaction to Mubarak’s conviction and sentencing in June, when thousands took to the streets, some in celebration and others in anger that he escaped the death penalty.

Sunday’s muted reaction indicates the fate of Egypt’s ruler of nearly three decades may have, at least for now, been reduced to a political footnote in a country sagging under the weight of a crippling economic crisis and anxious over its future direction under the rule of Islamists.

No date has been set for the retrial, but attention is sure to dramatically pick up when it begins and Egyptians again watch fascinated by the sight of their country’s one-time strongman behind bars in the defendants’ cage.

If convicted, Mubarak could face a life sentence or have it reduced. He could also be acquitted. Under Egyptian law, a defendant cannot face a harsher sentence in a retrial, meaning the former leader cannot face the death penalty.

The Court of Cassation did not immediately disclose its reasoning, but legal experts said the appeal was granted over a series of procedural problems in the conduct of the original trial.

The ruling had been widely expected. When Mubarak was convicted in June, the presiding judge criticized the prosecution’s case, saying it lacked concrete evidence and failed to prove the protesters were killed by the police.

Gamal Eid, a prominent rights lawyer, said the new trial could include new defendants and the judge ordering additional investigations.