Egypt's Brotherhood calls for anti-Mubarak protests

CAIRO

Egypt's National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, the main support bloc of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, called on Monday for mass demonstrations on Tuesday to protest a court verdict that cleared former president Hosni Mubarak from charges of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising.

"We call on the masses of the revolution to come together on Tuesday in all squares to demand retribution for the martyrs and denounce the exoneration of Mubarak and his aides," the alliance said in a statement.

"We call on all Egyptians to restore the revolutionary spirit in order to get back rights of all the martyrs of January 25," it added.

On Saturday, a court dropped the case against Mubarak on charges of conspiring in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.

The court also cleared the former leader, ex-interior minister Habib al-Adly and six former top security officials of charges of ordering the murder of the anti-regime protesters during the 18-day uprising.

Mubarak was also cleared of corruption charges related to gas exports to Israel.

The rulings are still subject to appeal.

In late 2012, Mubarak and al-Adly were both sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering the murder of demonstrators during the uprising. The court later ordered a retrial, however, after the former president's lawyers successfully appealed the sentence.

The pro-Morsi alliance, meanwhile, continues to organize regular rallies to protest last year's ouster of Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – by the army.

Security forces, however, usually disperse these rallies by force amid an ongoing crackdown on Morsi supporters that has left hundreds of protesters dead and thousands behind bars.

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