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through the region. The judge said criminal charges should never have been brought against Mubarak in the case. The decision can be appealed, however, and the former leader was not freed as he is serving a three-year jail term in a separate embezzlement case.
Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak’s rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism and considered it a victory to see him behind bars.
His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election but the winner, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted last year by then-army chief Abdelfattah al-Sisi, following protests against his rule.
Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election in May, launched a crackdown on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Authorities have jailed thousands of Brotherhood supporters and sentenced hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.
By contrast, Mubarak-era figures are slowly being cleared of charges and a series of laws curtailing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old leadership was regaining influence. Saturday’s verdict was seen as the latest sign by activists the rights won in 2011 were being eroded.
“This is a political verdict. The judiciary has been procrastinating for four years so they could clear him after hope had been lost,” the father of Ahmed Khaleefa, 19, who was killed in 2011, told Reuters outside the court.
“The verdict hit us like bullets. I consider that my son Ahmed died today.”
A few dozen young people gathered to protest the verdict in the city of Suez, site of the first death of the uprising, but they were quickly dispersed by police, security sources said.
By nightfall, a few hundred demonstrators had gathered in downtown Cairo. They chanted slogans against Mubarak and against Sisi and Mursi, the two men who have served as president since him. An eyewitness said, based on the chants, both Mursi supporters and liberal secular protesters appeared to be present.
Armoured vehicles and security personnel blocked their entrance to Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the revolt.
Hundreds of people died when security forces clashed with protesters in the weeks before Mubarak was forced from power.
Othman al-Hefnawy, a lawyer representing some families of protesters who died, said the verdict left open the question: if Mubarak, his interior minister and their security aides were not responsible for the deaths of 239 protesters, then who was?
The court also cleared Mubarak and a former oil minister of graft charges related to gas exports to Israel.
In a separate corruption case, charges were dropped against Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal, with Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi saying too much time had elapsed since the alleged crime took place for the court to rule.
State television showed Gamal and Alaa kissing their father’s forehead after the ruling. Gamal also hugged former interior minister Adly, who appeared to be in tears. Mubarak’s sons and Adly will also remain in jail serving other sentences.
The rise of Sisi, a career officer, to the presidency, means voices more sympathetic to Mubarak and the military have since been heard.
In August, Mubarak used rare court testimony beamed live into millions of homes to protest his innocence, saying he would go to his grave with a clear conscience and history would vindicate him.
“We were confident of his innocence regardless of the criticism he faced and the efforts to tarnish his reputation,” said Nahla al-Hawy, a Mubarak supporter outside the court.
Mubarak will remain in an army hospital, where he is serving the three-year embezzlement sentence handed down in May.
