CAIRO
Judge hearing the retrial of Egypt's toppled president Hosni Mubarak recused himself on Saturday, referring to an appeals court the case where the country's former strongman was accused of ordering the killing of hundreds of protesters during a popular uprising in 2011 which eventually ended his 30-year rule.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah, who caused furor last October when he acquitted 24 of the suspects, announced his decision and adjourned the trial.
Mubarak, held in detention since April 2011, and his then-interior minister, Habib el-Adly, were sentenced last June to life in prison but in January an appeals court overruled the sentence, citing poor trial procedures.
El-Adly's six aides will also face the retrial who were acquitted in the initial hearings.
Muabarak's two sons, Jamal and Alaa, were also set to appear before a judge in a separate trial for charges of corruption.
Prosecutors probing the former strongman were expected to present to the court fresh evidence regarding Mubarak's and El-Adly's alleged complicity in the killings.
