Mubarak verdict postponed to Nov 29

The final verdict in former President Hosni Mubarak's retrial, due to be issued today, was postponed to November 29 to give the court more time to finish the paperwork necessary for the ruling.

In an anticlimactic court session, presiding Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidy said he based his decision on Article 172 of the Procedure Law. Though the court has written 60 to 70 percent of its reasoning behind the verdict, he explained, it still needs more time to conclude.

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.

In Saturday's court session, the judge also extended Adly's detention period. 

Before announcing its decision, the court showed a lengthy video that was intended to relay how difficult it was to go over the 160,000 pages of 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 has finished reading them.

He also clarified that the court is aware that “this is a national case, not a normal dispute.”  

In June 2012, the defendants had been found guilty on all counts and were sentenced to 25 years in prison — the maximum sentence in Egypt — in 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 granting a retrial. Proceedings commenced in April that year.

Mubarak is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for embezzling over LE100 million from state funds for work done on homes owned by him and his family. The court also sentenced Alaa and Gamal to four years in prison on the same charges.

Minor scuffles erupted outside the courthouse following the court's announcement, as the ousted president's supporters squared off against the families of the those killed in the January 25 revolution. Security forces quickly contained the situation.