Mubarak denies involvement in killing protesters during uprising

CAIRO: As his final retrial began, Egypt’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, denied involvement in killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.

Mubarak, 88, was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators, sowing chaos and creating a security vacuum during an 18-day revolt which began in 2011, but an appeals court ordered a retrial.

That retrial culminated in 2014 in an Egyptian court dropping the case.

But the public prosecution appealed against the decision and ordered a retrial by Egypt’s top Appeals Court.

That began yesterday, with Mubarak and his interior minister being accused of providing vehicles and weapons used to assault protesters and failing to act to prevent deaths.

Sitting in a wheelchair in the defendant’s cage without his trademark dark sunglasses, Mubarak responded: “It did not happen.”

He has long maintained his innocence. He waved at supporters among the journalists and others in the court. Outside, a small group of Mubarak supporters unfurled posters demanding that he be freed.

Hundreds of people died when security forces clashed with protesters in the weeks before Mubarak was forced from power. Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak’s rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.

His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election, won by Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. He lasted only a year in office, before being overthrown by then army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who became president in 2014.

Sisi has since cracked down on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. – Reuters