Appeal in Mubarak cops case

Egypt’s general prosecutor has lodged a case against the acquittal of six senior police officials charged over the killing of protesters during the uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

Former president Mubarak and former interior minister Habib Al Adli were sentenced to life in prison on Saturday for their role in the killings.

But the judge acquitted the six security officials for lack of evidence, a decision that worried lawyers for victims’ families, who said the ruling could help Mubarak on appeal.

Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in protest at the verdicts, some wanting the death sentence for Mubarak, others fearing weaknesses in the prosecution case.

“The general prosecutor has also banned the six officers from travel,” the assistant said. Meanwhile, young Egyptians ransacked the campaign office of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq yesterday, the state’s Al Ahram news website said. It was the second attack on a Shafiq campaign office in recent days after protesters stormed his headquarters in Cairo’s Dokki district on May 28 and set fire to storage rooms, destroying campaign posters and banners.

Shafiq was the last prime minister of deposed president Hosni Mubarak and his success in getting through to a second round of Egypt’s presidential election has angered opponents who see him as a symbol of a regime that they took to the streets to oust.