Hosni Mubarak Will Get a New Trial
Hosni Mubarak will be retried by an Egyptian court. The former ruler's life sentence appeal was granted by an Egyptian court, though this time it seems the prosecutors might have new evidence that could give them the death penalty they were looking for.
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A judge in Egypt granted Mubarak's lawyers their request for an appeal Sunday morning. The retrial is expected to take place sometime in the next two months. Some are worried the decision to announce Mubarak's retrial little more than a week before January 25, the anniversary of the beginning of the uprising, could heighten the potential for chaos during celebrations.
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Mubarak and Habib al-Adli, his former Interior Minister, were charged for failing to halt the killing of over 800 protestors during the uprising that ousted Mubarak from power after 30 years. At the time, the judge could not prove that Mubarak or al-Adli had directly ordered the killing of Egyptian protesters. Al-Adli's life sentence was also overturned Sunday.
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But The New York Times reports prosecutors might have the ace that guarantees the death penalty that anti-Mubarak supporters wanted. They might have evidence Mubarak was aware of everything that was happening during the protests:
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Earlier this month, a presidential fact-finding committee presented a report to Mr. Morsi that accused Mr. Mubarak of having far more direct awareness of the violence against the protesters than previously disclosed. The Web site of the Information Ministry last week reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the commission’s conclusions, that it found that Mr. Mubarak had watched the brutal tactics of his security forces in the streets over a special television monitor in his office and also received “firsthand reports.”
