Former President Hosni Mubarak and his Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly may yet again face trial over the killing of protestors during the 25 January 2011 uprising.
A fact-finding committee formed by President Mohamed Morsy has ordered the public prosecution to refer the case back to the same court that already sentenced Mubarak and El-Adly to life in prison, but which acquitted all six assistant interior ministers.
The committee said the court had made a serious error in that it only examined the events taking place in Tahrir Square and ignored clashes in the rest of Cairo and in 11 other governorates.
Lawyers Ahmed Heshmat and Ahmed Ragheb, both members of the committee, confirmed that the committee ordered the case reopened.
Mubarak and El-Adly were sentenced to life in prison on 2 June. They were not convicted of killing protestors, however, but rather for failing to protect them.
El-Adly’s six aides were all acquitted as the court ruled that only their bosses were culpable.
The sentence sparked demonstrations in Tahrir Square, and all over the country, with protestors calling for Mubarak to receive the death penalty.
Mubarak and El-Adly have both filed for appeal. Their appeal is scheduled for December of this year and will not be affected by the committee’s decision.
Reopening the case cannot result in a reduced sentence for the pair. They have already been convicted of wrong doing in one area of the case and the trial will be concerned with other areas. Their sentence can be extended, however.
The former president and his interior minister are now accused of killing about 1,000 protestors all over Egypt in the period between 25 January and 11 February of last year, when the popular uprising forced Mubarak to step down.
