The retrial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, alongside other defendants, was postponed to Wednesday by the Cairo Criminal Court, the third delay this week. Mubarak is being retried – alongside his sons Gamal and Alaa, former Minister of Interior Habib Al-Adly, and six of his aides – for his part in not preventing the killing of protesters during the 25 January Revolution. Mubarak, his sons and fugitive businessman Hussein Salem are also accused of harming public funds through the exportation of natural gas to Israel. Trial sessions were held on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, at which defence arguments for Al-Adly's aides were heard. The retrial was postponed to Wednesday to continue hearing the defence. Labelled ‘The Trial of the Century', the first session took place on 4 August 2011. The former president was handed a life sentence by the Cairo Criminal Court. However, the Cassation Court accepted Mubarak's appeal and ordered a retrial before February 2012. After dozens of court appearances, the ousted president was sentenced for embezzlement on 21 May to three years in a maximum security prison. His sons were also sentenced in the same case, to four years each in a maximum security prison. Collectively, they were fined EGP 125m and are required to repay EGP 21m. Besides these two cases, Mubarak is being tried for graft and receiving gifts from national journalism institutions. Mubarak, 86, has remained in a military hospital in Cairo since he had was freed from detention in August, when he was ordered into house arrest when the maximum pre-trial detention period expired. He was arrested in April 2011.
