Egypt: Court Orders Re-trial of Mubarak

Cairo---A court in Egypt has accepted an appeal by former President Hosni Mubarak and his former interior minister Habib al- Adly to have them re-tried over killings of protesters in the 2011 uprising.

Mubarak and al-Adly were handed life sentences in June over the death of about 850 people killed in a crackdown by security forces following mass protests early 2011 that forced him to step down from power.

On Sunday, Judge Ahmed Ali Abderahman told the court that he had accepted the appeals by Mubarak, el-Adly and the prosecution, in a decision that saw all previous rulings by the Cairo criminal court cancelled.

Mubarak will still remain in custody to face fresh trials on corruption charges alongside his former interior minister, in which Mubarak was earlier acquitted.

Earlier on Saturday, Mubarak was interrogated over fresh charges of corruption and ordered detained for 15 days, pending further investigation, over claims of receiving gifts worth about $1 million from the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper.

A small crowd of Mubarak’s supporters outside the courtroom broke in applause after the ruling was read, chanting slogans of “long live Justice”, while another jubilant crowd gathered outside the hospital where he was being held.

Mubarak could still face a life imprisonment or have it reduced if convicted in the re-trial in which no clear date has been set. Under the Egyptian law a defendant cannot face a harsher sentence in a re-trial, meaning he cannot face a death sentence.

Mohamed Abdel Razek, one of Mubarak’s lawyers, said the re-trial would be based on the same evidence used in the earlier trial and “no new evidence will be added to the case” saying the verdict had a myriad of flaws.

Mubarak, 84, suffered a life threatening stroke in prison the same month after he was convicted but was revived and still remains in hospital. His health has been frequently reported to be deteriorating since his step-down in February 2011, and in August the same year, he first appeared in court caged in bed to face the trial.

Bamako, Mali

French Vows Short Operation in Mali

France’s involvement in the campaign against Islamic rebels in north eastern Mali is set to be a short one following the launch of its military operation in the North African country since Friday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said.

France’s intervention in former colony comes surprisingly to many, following a request by the Malian interim president to intervene after recent offences by the Islamic rebels intensified.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Mr Fabius said the military operation would be “a question of weeks”, and that his country had no intention of staying forever.

"Stopping the terrorists - it's done," Fabius said. "Today we started taking care of the terrorists' rear bases."

On Sunday, French warplanes hit rebel’s installations in northern Mali including positions near the ancient trading town of Timbuktu and Gao, on the third day of intensified offense that has forced the militants to flee.

The French operation launched alongside the Malian army has since seen the recapture of the central town of Konna from the rebels whose advance southwards had a threatening consequence even to the capital Bamako.

Malian army official on Saturday reported that over 100 militants are believed to have been killed. At least 11 Malian soldiers and a French helicopter pilot have died since launch of the mission on Friday. Rights group Human Rights Watch says 10 civilians including three children are believed to have died during the contest to recapture Konna town.

French President Francois Hollande was expected to convene a cabinet meeting on Monday devoted to the Malian crisis ahead of a UN Security Council meeting requested by Paris on Mali.

France has deployed about 550 soldiers to Mali split between Bamako and the town of Mopti 500 km (300 miles) north, under “Operation Serval”—named after an African wildcat.

A force of about 3500 soldiers from countries in the West African regional bloc, Ecowas is expected in the country under the UN-backed mission in Mali that seeks to reclaim back the Islamists held north.

Islamist groups and Tuareg rebels seized control of the northern region after President Amadou Toumani Toure was overthrown in March by a band of renegade troops led by Captain Amadou Sanogo over claim of the government’s inability to suppress a Tuareg-led rebellion.

The Tuareg-led MLNA rebels have been advancing through towns in the north since March, declaring the area  which they refer to as state of Azawad independent, where they have implemented harsh Islamic “Sharia laws.”

The extremists allied to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have been fighting for autonomy in north-eastern Mali since independence, a significant transit and smuggling point in the vast desert.