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Hosni Mubarak: Egypt court drops murder charges over 2011 killings | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A court in Egypt has dropped the case against former President Hosni Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. | |
The courtroom erupted in cheers when the judge concluded Mubarak's retrial by dismissing the charges which relate to the deaths of hundreds of people. | |
He was also cleared of a corruption charge involving gas exports to Israel. | |
Mubarak, 86, is serving a separate three-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds. | |
The court, which met at a Cairo police academy, also cleared Mubarak's former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly, and six other security officials of wrongdoing over the deaths in 2011. | |
Mubarak and his former interior minister were convicted of conspiracy to kill and sentenced to life in prison in June 2012 but a retrial was ordered last year. | |
'Same regime' | |
Relatives of those killed in 2011 had awaited Saturday's verdict with trepidation. | |
Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali, whose wife was killed, had little faith in the judiciary, believing it simply did the government's bidding. | |
"The regime is the same," he told AP news agency. "Names have changed but everything is the same.'' | |
Amal Shaker, mother of 25-year-old Ahmed who was fatally shot in the back during the 2011 uprising, said before the announcement that she was still waiting for justice. | |
"Youth that were like flowers were killed," she told AP news agency. "Four years have passed, where is the trial?" | |
Mubarak's elected successor as president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi, lasted only a year in power before being ousted by the military in July 2013 during mass anti-government protests. | |
Army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi was subsequently elected in his place and under his rule, TV stations and newspapers have largely dropped criticism of the Mubarak era, correspondents say. |