Official refers ex-president’s trial to another court after previous judgment prompted concerns he is a Mubarak sympathiser
Patrick Kingsley in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 13 April 2013 11.34 BST
The retrial of the ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak collapsed just minutes after it started on Saturday as the judge used his opening statements to recuse himself from proceedings and referred the case to another court.
Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment last June on charges of corruption and complicity in the murder of protesters during the 2011 uprising. But he was granted a retrial in January after a Cairo court agreed the prosecution’s original case was poorly prepared.
Now the process has been postponed further after the judge, Mustafa Hassan Abdullah, resigned on the grounds that any judgment he made would be viewed suspiciously because of his previous involvement in trials of Mubarak-era officials. The decision sparked pandemonium in the court, as lawyers and relatives of people killed during the 2011 uprising began shouting.
The court session was Mubarak’s first public outing in nearly a year – and he appeared in much better health than in his last. He arrived in court wearing sunglasses, smiled and waved at onlookers, and seemed relaxed – perhaps hopeful that Saturday’s proceedings would secure his release. Instead, he will return to jail while the practicalities of his next court hearing are decided.
Abdullah previously adjudicated in the controversial prosecution of 24 officials accused of co-ordinating the battle of the camel, a clash between revolutionaries and the regime in 2011. Abdullah acquitted them all, prompting concerns that he was a Mubarak sympathiser.
Outside the court, where dozens of revolutionaries and Mubarak supporters had gathered, prosecution lawyers welcomed Abdullah’s resignation. “We were going to ask for this anyway,” said Kadry Farid, a senior member of the prosecution. “It was a fatal decision to assign him to this case.” Farid added that Abdullah had not allowed the prosecution to submit crucial new evidence – a decision he hoped would be reversed by a new judge.
But the news infuriated the 50 pro-Mubarak demonstrators who had assembled with banners, drums and photographs of their jailed idol to protest against his continued incarceration.
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