Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Interior Minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison on Saturday, but six security chiefs were acquitted in the killings of demonstrators during last year's uprising, which ousted Mubarak and left some 850 people dead.
After the ruling, Egyptians took to the street, outraged that no one had been found directly guilty of killing the protesters, and activists are organizing a bigger protest for today. AFP reports:
Egyptians in their hundreds began gathering Tuesday in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square ahead of a mass demonstration to protest against verdicts handed down in ex-president Hosni Mubarak's murder trial.
Hawkers selling tea, cakes or flags took up positions at the square in downtown Cairo, which was closed to traffic for the 1500 GMT demonstration called by Egyptian activists furious at the verdicts …
Mubarak — the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock — could have been sent to the gallows as demanded by the prosecution but was instead given a life term, angering many.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that an Egyptian security official says Mubarak's health has deteriorated since he was sentenced:
The official at Cairo’s Torah prison said that Mubarak collapsed several times Tuesday, and that he was placed on mechanical ventilation after having difficulty breathing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to the press …
From his arrest 13 months ago until his conviction, he has been in hospitals, first in his favorite Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik and later at a suite in a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.
Read more at the Washington Post.