Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday delayed to Nov. 29 an expected verdict in Hosni Mubarak's retrial on charges of unlawfully killing protesters during the 25 January Revolution, citing that it needs more time to review all the evidence.
Previously the court said it would issue its verdict Saturday, Sept. 27.
The court said the announced delay is due to the verdict reasoning having not yet been completed.
However, lawyer Mahmoud Hassan, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, told Ahram Online that the verdict reasoning is usually issued a month or two after the verdict, arguing that this is not a valid reason to postpone the verdict.
Hassan hinted the decision was political.
Prior to the announcement, the court showed a video of what it means to examine 160,000 pages evidence that comprise the case. The video was produced and narrated by private satellite channel Sada El-Balad, which has exclusive rights to broadcast the trial.
Mubarak, 86, is being retried on charges of complicity in the killing of around 850 unarmed protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule. His sons Gamal and Alaa, Mubarak-era interior minister Habib El-Adly, and six of El-Adly’s aides are also charged in the same case.
The former autocrat was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2012 for complicity in the protesters’ deaths, but the verdict was successfully appealed in January 2013 as the presiding judge said there was not enough evidence from the prosecution.
The retrial began in April 2013.
