Mubarak’s final retrial over 2011 killings postponed to Jan 21

Egypt’s top court today postponed to January 21 the final retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak over the killing of more than 200 protesters during the 2011 uprising that brought down his 30-year rule.

The Court of Cassation also ordered that the retrial of 87-year-old Mubarak be moved from the High Court building in the centre of the Egyptian capital to a “suitable” place.

The Ministry of Interior has previously recommended that the Police Academy be the place of retrial for security reasons, as the former president will be attending.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to kill more than 200 protesters during an 18-day revolt which began on January 25, 2011, but a retrial was ordered on appeal.

In the first retrial in November 2014, the court cleared the charges against Mubarak and his seven aides, including his interior minister Habib el-Adli, but public prosecutors appealed the verdict.

Many Egyptians from the Mubarak era view his rule as autocratic and riddled with crony capitalism.

Mubarak’s overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election, which brought in Islamist President Mohammad Morsi.

Morsi’s only lasted a year in office after mass protests against his rule in 2013 prompted then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take power.

Sisi won a presidential election last year and has since cracked down on Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been jailed.