The Fifth Settlement Criminal Court ordered the recommencement of former president Hosny Mubarak's trial on Monday to hear witness statements of public officials during the 25 January Revolution. The trial will call for witness statements from the former commander of Egypt's Central Military Zone Major General Hassan Al-Roweiny, and Head of the Investigation Unit at Minya prison during the 25 January Revolution. Mubarak is facing charges that include the killing of protesters during the Revolution, wasting public funds and the illegal export of oil. His sons Gamal and Alaa and former Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly were also present at the court and face charges of wasting public funds and killing protesters. Witness statements were made on Saturday and Sunday by former Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, former Minister of Interior Ahmad Gamal Al-Din and current Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail. On 14 September, the court ordered the trial sessions to be private for the purpose of national security, as witness statements from former military intelligence and national security directors were made. Mubarak, 85, had appealed a life sentence handed to him for his role in ordering the killing of protesters. On 13 January, the cassation court accepted the appeal and ordered the case back to the Cairo criminal court for a retrial. Around 850 protesters were killed during the 18 days of the 25 January uprising Mubarak was released from prison in June after he spent two years in preventive detention. Criminal procedure law stipulates that the maximum preventive detention period for a felon is two years. The court exhausted the two year preventive detention term before handing Mubarak a sentence.
