Mubarak Case Collapses, Killing 1

Cairo, November 30 – The magistrate overseeing former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s trial on murder and corruption charges decided to drop the case yesterday, causing the case to collapse, kill at least one person, and injure an unknown number.

Mubarak, now 86, was deposed as part of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, and has remained in custody as he and numerous subordinates faced trial for the killing of hundreds of demonstrators against his rule four years ago. Elections following his ouster brought Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, but Morsi and his cohorts were similarly dethroned by the military and also await trial. News of the dropped charges sent a shock wave through Egypt, inuring dozens more, and sparking further protest. Tear-gas- and birdshot-wielding police arrested more than 85 people for sparking.

The magistrate entered to read his decision and a hush fell over the courtroom, injuring three. As the judge announced his decision a cheer ran through the court. Bailiffs muffled it, but not before it had already seized most of those in attendance. Courthouse personnel would not offer comment on how the cheer was able to penetrate the numerous layers of security. The judge himself intended to announce the verdict last week by cutting through much of the red tape, but was detained for bringing a sharp implement into the building.

Mr. Mubarak’s fate remains murky. He has already been held for more than the three years mandated under an earlier corruption conviction, a fact that continues to cloud Egypt, impairing vision and leading to numerous fatalities. In one such recent incident, 31 Egyptian soldiers were killed when the checkpoint they were manning came under assault by militants whose source of funding remains shrouded. President Sisi has blamed mysterious “foreign” elements of a conspiracy to undermine Egyptian stability, a charge that further muddies matters, adding fuel to the escalating mudslinging competition between the current government and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The mudslinging has injured and killed dozens, and soiled the government’s reputation as representing a break from the previous regime. More than 150 people were treated at various Egyptian hospitals for mud in their eyes last week alone, mostly former officials with the Brotherhood.

Prosecutors had initially considered the trial against Mubarak an open-and-shut case, but their own missteps brought about the case’s closure prematurely, snagging their fingers in the process. With their digits thus ensnared, prosecutors have been unable to engage in the customary finger-pointing that usually follows a mistake in officialdom. They concede that if they continue to pursue the case against  the former leader, whose supporters are now once again firmly ensconced in power, they may find their hands tied.

The Muslim Brotherhood lashed out at the judge and his decision, causing lacerations to several passers by.