Judge withdraws from Mubarak murder retrial

CAIRO -- The judge in the murder retrial of Hosni Mubarak abruptly withdrew from the case yesterday, sending the matter to another court and delaying the decision on the deposed president's fate over the actions of his police and army during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Wheeled into the defendant's cage on a stretcher, Mubarak, 84, looked more robust than in past court sessions. He smiled and waved to supporters on hand at the trial on charges of complicity in the killing of more than 850 protesters, a case that has become an irritating sideshow to the nation's troubled democratic transition and deepening economic turmoil.

Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah said he felt "unease" at presiding over the trial and referred it to a Cairo appeals court. Lawyers representing the families of victims had petitioned to remove Abdullah, a Mubarak appointee, after he acquitted former officials of plotting a Feb. 2, 2011, attack on protesters by assailants riding horses and camels through Tahrir Square.

The trial's delay and Mubarak's smug demeanor raised questions over whether he would ever be punished for the bloody final days of his rule.

As the judge hurried from the bench and Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, both on trial for corruption, flanked their father in a wire-mesh cage, relatives of dead demonstrators chanted: "The people demand the execution of Mubarak!"

Hundreds of protesters died and many more were "injured and we must get their rights," said Khaled Abu Bakr, a lawyer for relatives of victims.

-- Los Angeles Times