Egypt court drops murder charge against Mubarak

An Egyptian court dismissed Nov 29 a murder charge against former president Hosni Mubarak over the deaths of protesters during a 2011 uprising, after a dramatic retrial in which he defended his three-decade rule.

The court also acquitted the ex-strongman of a corruption charge, but he will remain in prison because he is serving a three-year sentence in a separate graft case.
 
Seven of his security commanders, including the feared former interior minister Habib al-Adly, were acquitted over the demonstrator deaths.
 
Cheers broke out in the courtroom and Mubarak's two sons and co-defendants stooped down to kiss his forehead when the judge read out the verdict, as Mubarak lay in an upright stretcher inside the caged dock.
 
The sons, Alaa and Gamal, had been charged with corruption, but chief judge Mahmud Kamel al-Rashidi also dropped that case.
 
The usually stone-faced Mubarak, wearing his trademark shades, allowed himself a faint smile.
 
His lawyer Farid al-Deeb told AFP that the verdict was "a good ruling that proved the integrity of Mubarak's era."
 
An appeals court had overturned an initial life sentence for Mubarak in 2012 on a technicality.
 
His successor Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the main Islamist opposition group under Mubarak, was overthrown by the army himself in 2012 following massive protests.
 
Mubarak's supporters leapt out of their benches in celebration when the judge pronounced the verdict, chanting: "Say the truth, don't be scared -- Mubarak is innocent."
 
Some rushed over to his lawyer to congratulate him.
 
The Nov 29 ruling came after a retrial lasting more than a year in which many witnesses, including his former police and...