(AFP File Photo)
South Cairo Criminal Court postponed on Saturday the verdict on the Pilots Land case until 20 June, while Alaa and Gamal Mubarak remain detained.
Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq was being tried alongside other members of the Pilots Land Association for selling 40,000 square metres of land below market prices to former regime officials including former president Hosni Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal. The land was reportedly sold for 75 piasters per square metre while the market price was EGP 8 at the time.
The verdict was postponed to look further into the case, reported state-owned Al-Ahram. Shafiq’s lawyer, Hesham Murad, stated that the court’s decision ensured the integrity of the judiciary.
The Mubarak brothers attended the court session amid maximum security, reported Al-Ahram. The court banned broadcast media representatives and photojournalists from covering the session; only print journalists were allowed coverage.
Meanwhile outside the court, Mubarak supporters rallied in support of Shafiq, Alaa and Gamal, holding pictures of ousted president Mubarak, Al-Ahram also reported.
Shafiq was acquitted in April along with other defendants for wasting public money. The former presidential candidate travelled to the United Arab Emirates following his election loss and has not returned to Egypt.
Shafiq was the minister of civil aviation under former president Hosni Mubarak before he was appointed prime minister by the ousted president. While he remains blacklisted, Interpol refused to arrest Shafiq when Prosecutor General Tala’at Abdallah made the request.
