CAIRO — An Egyptian court Sunday set the date for a retrial of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, his sons and top aides, ordering the politically fraught hearings over the killing of protesters to start just nine days before parliamentary elections next month. Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular revolt in 2011, was jailed for life for ordering the killing of demonstrators, but was later granted a retrial by a Cairo court. The 84-year-old is now being treated in a military hospital. His sons and other figures have also faced charges of corruption and squandering public funds, due to be reheard. “Samir Abu El Maati, the head of the Appeals Court has set April 13 as the retrial date for former president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Gamal and Alaa and his interior minister Habib El-Adly and six of his top aides ... on charges of killing of protesters during the January 25th revolution,” MENA state news agency said. The retrial could raise tensions at a time of political and economic turmoil in Egypt, which has seen waves of street unrest throughout the two years since Mubarak stepped down. New Islamist President Mohamed Morsi accuses his supporters of fomenting some of the unrest. The hearings are likely to overlap with the parliamentary vote, which begins on April 22 and will be held until late June. Meanwhile, popular discontent over the government's performance is already spilling into violent confrontations on the streets and a myriad of work stoppages. On Sunday, clashes erupted between security forces and protesters in the port city of Port Said, the scene of a civil strike now in its second week. City residents started their strike in anger over the excessive use of police force, which killed over 40 civilians in late January, to demand retribution. In Cairo, die-hard soccer fans of Al-Ahly club, known as Ultras, were also gearing up for the March 9 verdict by staging protests around town that blocked traffic going to the airport, and closed off the area around the central bank. Most of those killed in the Port Said stadium were Al-Ahly Ultras, and the group is pressing for retribution from Port Said soccer fans as well as security officials. Meanwhile, in the southern city of Luxor, scores of bazaar owners blocked the roads leading to the famed ancient sites such as the Valley of the Kings, barring tourist buses from getting through in an unprecedented move. The protesters are demanding the government exempt them from paying rent because of the dismal tourism revenues. — Agencies
