CAIRO — The prosecution on former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak took another turn Sunday, when a court in Cairo granted his appeal of a life sentence and ordered a retrial on charges that he failed to prevent the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that toppled his government nearly two years ago.
The ruling read by judge Ahmed Ali Abdel-Rahman during the brief court session also overturned the conviction of Mr. Mubarak’s interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who is serving a life sentence after his conviction on the same charges. He will also be retried.
Mr. Mubarak, however, will not be freed; he is being held for investigation on other charges. The defendants were not present in the courtroom. Mr. Mubarak, 84, was reported last year to have been close to death, but the current state of his health is unknown.
His defense lawyers had argued that the former president did not know of the killings, but an Egyptian fact-finding mission has determined that he watched the uprising unfold on television at his palace.
The mission’s report could hold both political opportunities and dangers for Mr. Mubarak’s successor, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. A new trial would be popular, since many Egyptians were angered that Mr. Mubarak was convicted of failing to stop the killings, rather than ordering the crackdown.
But the report also implicates the military and security officials in the protesters’ deaths. Any move to prosecute them could spark a backlash from the powerful police and others who still hold positions under Mr. Morsi’s government.
The judge also granted the prosecution’s request to overturn not-guilty verdicts on Mr. Mubarak, his two sons and an associate of the former president, Hussein Salem, on corruption charges. Mr. Salem was tried in absentia and remains at large to this day.
A retrial was also ordered for six of Mr. el-Adly’s aides who were acquitted in the same trial. Five of them were found not guilty of involvement in the killing of the protesters, while one was acquitted of “gross negligence.”
No date has been set for the start of the retrial of the 11 and it was not immediately clear if all of them would be brought before the same court as was the case in their first trial.
Mubarak’s sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and businessman Alaa, are in prison while on being tried for insider trading and using their influence to buy state land at a fraction of its market price.
Sunday’s ruling came a day after prosecutors questioned Mr. Mubarak about $1 million worth of personal gifts he received from a state news organization over his last six years in office, the organization’s Web site reported.
The investigation, conducted by the office assigned to investigate the misuse of public money, appeared to signal the determination of Mr. Morsi to bring new charges against Mr. Mubarak, the ousted former autocrat.
Mr. Mubarak was questioned about gifts, including gold pens, designer neckties, leather bags, shoes, gold jewelry and expensive watches that Al Ahram, which operates several newspapers and other media outlets, gave him from 2006 to 2011 as demonstrations of loyalty, its Web site reported. Al Ahram said Mr. Mubarak was facing possible new charges, including damaging public funds and improperly profiting from the gifts.
Al Ahram had been run by Mubarak loyalists while he was in office, but its management changed after Egypt‘s uprising.
He was questioned in a military hospital where he is serving a jail sentence for overseeing the police killing of nonviolent protesters.
Mr. Morsi campaigned on a pledge to bring new charges against Mr. Mubarak
Egyptian Court Grants Hosni Mubarak a New Trial
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Egyptian Court Grants Hosni Mubarak a New Trial
