Mubarak Verdict Angers Families of Egypt Revolution Victims

(FNA)- An Egyptian court decision to drop murder charges against former President Hosni Mubarak and top security officials was greeted with shrieks and cries from families of protesters killed during a 2011 uprising.

Denouncing the court verdict, families of the victims shouted slogans demanding retribution for people killed in the revolution that ended Mubarak's 30-year rule, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

Some of the families fainted following the ruling, World Bulletin reported.

"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."

Othman al-Hefnawy, a lawyer representing some of the families of the 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?

In late 2012, Mubarak and al-Adly were both sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering the murder of demonstrators during the uprising.

The court later ordered a retrial, however, after the former president's lawyers appealed the sentence.

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 the army. The release of some Mubarak-era figures since then and a series of laws curtailing political freedoms had already raised fears among activists that the old leadership was regaining influence.