Mubarak's murder verdict postponed

An Egyptian court yesterday postponed its verdict in the murder retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak to November, in the latest twist in the legal battle surrounding the ousted autocrat.

Mubarak is accused alongside seven of his former police commanders of involvement in the killing of hundreds of demonstrators during the 2011 uprising that ended his three-decade rule. An appeals court overturned his initial life sentence on a technicality.

The 86-year-old, brought by helicopter from hospital, was wheeled on an upright stretcher into the caged dock, dressed in the blue garb of a convicted felon and wearing his trademark shades.

After calling out the names of the defendants, with Mubarak responding with a raised hand, chief judge Mahmud Kamel al-Rashid said there had been thousands of case files to study, pausing to show the court footage of the reams of documents. He said he had not found the time to finish writing the reasoning for the verdict.