Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat ordered Tuesday an appeal of the verdict of the retrial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and 10 co-defendants, citing "legal flaws". The order comes three days after Barakat requested a study into the legal "reasons" behind the sentences by the Cairo Criminal Court, only hours after the verdict was delivered. Barakat ordered the appeal based on the results of the study, which indicated legal flaws. The appeal will be presented to the Court of Cassation. A statement issued by the prosecution said the decision to appeal stems from the prosecution's role as defined by the law, and is not "affected by the conflicts of different political forces". Cassation Court lawyer Mohamed Zare' had said earlier this week that there is a possibility that the case will go to court once more. Zare' said the Court of Cassation can accept the appeal and rule on the case. At the end of the retrial on Saturday, murder charges against Mubarak were dismissed. Former interior minsiter Habib Al-Adly and four of his aides were acquitted of murder charges. Mubarak and business tycoon Hussein Salem were acquitted of graft charges relating to the sale of natural gas to Israel. Mubarak also faced charges of corruption, along with his sons Alaa and Gamal, and Salem. The corruption charges were dropped, with the judge citing that these are subject to a statute of limitations, which had expired.
