Saturday, September 27, 2014

Mubarak verdict postponed

The Cairo Criminal Court postponed the verdict in the Mubarak trial, originally scheduled for today, to November 29, giving the court more time to finish the paperwork necessary for the ruling.
In an anticlimactic court session, Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidy said he based his decision on Article 172 of the procedure law, saying the court is done with writing 60 to 70 percent of its reasoning behind the verdict and needs more time to conclude it.  
Mubarak, his Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six former Interior Ministry officials are being retried on charges of orchestrating the deaths of at least 846 unarmed demonstrators during the January 25, 2011 protests that led to the Mubarak administration’s downfall.
Mubarak, his sons Galal and Alaa, and fugitive businessman Hussein Salem also face accusations of abuse of power and financial corruption in the same case.
The judge also ordered the continued detention of Adly.
Before announcing its decision, the court showed a lengthy video that was intended to relay how difficult it was to go over 160,000-page documents related to the case.With dramatic music playing in the background, the video, which bore the logo of privately owned channel Sada al-Balad, panned around two rooms full of stacked binders containing the case documents. Judge Rashidy’s opening statements concerned the fact that the court must stick to the principles and ethics of the judiciary, adding that all documents related to the case must be in court as the verdict is announced, proving that the court is finished reading it. He also clarified that the court is aware that “this is a national case, not a normal dispute.”  
In June 2012 the defendants were found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 25 years in prison — the maximum sentence in Egypt — a ruling that was met with nationwide acclaim.The Cairo Court of Appeals overturned the verdict in January 2013, however, citing a lack of prosecutorial evidence and granted a retrial. Proceedings commenced in April that year.
Mubarak is still in jail, as he was convicted to three years inprisonment for the embezzlement of over LE100 million from state funds for work done on homes owned by him and his family. The court also sentenced the president’s two sons, Alaa and Gamal, to four years in prison on the same charges.

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