Egypt's top prosecutor to appeal "legally flawed" Mubarak verdict

CAIRO -- The office of Egypt's top prosecutor said in a statement Tuesday that a court ruling dismissing a murder case against ousted leader Hosni Mubarak in connection with the 2011 killing of protesters is "legally flawed" and that he intends to appeal it.

The statement did not say why the verdict was flawed nor stipulate when the prosecution will submit the appeal to the Court of Cassation, the nation's highest tribunal whose rulings are final.

The prosecution's appeal was expected.

Saturday's verdict said the case against Mubarak was "inadmissible" on a technicality and acquitted his security chief and six top police commanders of charges connected to the killing of protesters during the popular uprising against Mubarak's 29-year rule. Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11, 2011, handing the reins of power to the military.

He and his two sons, businessman Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, were acquitted of corruption charges in the same case.

Hussein Salem, a longtime Mubarak friend and a wealthy businessman, was also acquitted of corruption charges. He is a fugitive and was tried in absentia.

The verdicts have sparked a wave of protests in Cairo and across much of Egypt over the past two days. Two protesters died in Cairo and about 10 were injured in clashes with police in Cairo just hours after the verdicts were announced.

In dismissing the case, Judge Mahmoud al-Rashidi said that Mubarak's May 2011 referral to trial ignored a decision by prosecutors made two months previously not to try him. In theory, the dismissal of the case does not exonerate the 86-year-old Mubarak, but the acquittal of Mubarak's security chief and the six police commanders implicitly absolve him of the killings.

Nearly 900 protesters were killed during the 2011 uprising. The case however concerned itself with 239 deaths it says were named in the case.

Mubarak's acquittal bolstered the notion held by some Egyptians that Mubarak's regime remains intact nearly four years after its overthrow and that the nation's current leader, former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is its extension.