An Egyptian judge has withdrawn from the new round of the trial of Egypt's former dictator Hosni Mubarak in a hearing that lasted for just seconds, referring the case to another court.

Mostafa Hassan Abdallah announced his decision in a chaotic hearing at a police academy on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo on Saturday.

Abdallah said he was referring the case to the Cairo appeals court, as he felt “unease” in reviewing the case.

The appeals court is then expected to appoint a new circuit to hear the retrial.

Civil society lawyers attending the trial chanted: “The people want the execution of the president."


The 84-year-old Mubarak was expected to stand trial for the second time on charges of complicity in killing hundreds of peaceful protesters on January 25-31, 2011.

Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs were due to be tried on charges of killing 900 protesters during mass protests, which toppled Mubarak in 2011.

Mubarak’s sons Gamal and Alaa were also expected to be retried on corruption charges.

Mubarak and his interior minister have already been sentenced to life over the deadly crackdown. However, in January, an Egyptian court accepted an appeal by Hosni Mubarak over his life sentence for his involvement in the 2011 killings. The court ordered a retrial.

Many revolutionaries in Egypt believe the former US-allied strongman should be sentenced to death over his leading role in killing demonstrators.

Egyptians launched a revolution against Mubarak’s regime in January 2011, which brought an end to over three decades of dictatorship by him in February 2011.