A court in Egypt has cleared all 14 defendants, including security forces, of charges of killing protesters in Suez City during the 2011 revolution which toppled the former dictator Hosni Mubarak, a judicial source says.

“The Suez criminal court has acquitted all the defendants of charges of killing and attempting to kill demonstrators during the events of the January 25 revolution [2011],” the unnamed source said on Thursday.

No reasons have been provided by the court for the decision.

“Today the blood of Egyptians has become cheap,” a witness who attended the hearing said in reaction to the court verdict.

Spokesman for the Suez victims’ families Ali Gunaidi said, “The rulings that come out in Egypt are politicized.”

“There are no rulings in accordance with the laws but rather they are according to orders,” he added.


The deaths of protesters in Suez City sparked violence across Egypt and led to the ouster of the longtime dictator Mubarak.

Political analysts say the acquittal of suspected killers will fuel tensions in Egypt which has been the scene of increasing violence since the removal of Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected head of state in the July 2013 military coup d'état.

About 1,000 people were killed in a week of clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces after police dispersed their protest camps in a fatal crackdown on August 14.

The massacre sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.