Correction: Court summons Mubarak's doctor who leaked recordings

Ahram Online, Saturday 28 Sep 2013

Prison doctor is summoned in the politically sensitive case of leaked private recordings of former president Hosni Mubarak

Mubarak
Egyptian medics escort former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 84, into an ambulance after after he was flown by a helicopter ambulance to the Maadi Military Hospital from a court hearing, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, April 15, 2013 (Photo: AP)

Saturday, the South Cairo Court ordered the summoning of the prison doctor who reportedly leaked recordings of private conversations between him and former president Hosni Mubarak.

Private Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabea published excerpts of the recordings, including discussions related to several current political events. The newspaper's website published sound recordings of the conversations.

Al-Watan also published a number of the leaked conversations.

During the conversations, some of which took place before the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in July, Mubarak criticised Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In later conversations, he described Armed Forces Chief General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as "smart" and praised the Egyptian military for facilitating Morsi's removal.

Mubarak filed a complaint against the doctor for releasing the records of private conversations to the press. In his complaint, Mubarak explained that the conversations had taken place during his medical checkup, and he did not know he was being recorded.

The court has set 3 October as the preliminary trial date, when the court will hear testimony from the editors of Al-Watan and Al-Youm Al-Sabea, Magdy El-Galad and Khaled Salah.

Mubarak was detained in March 2011, and throughout his detention had to be regularly moved between Tora Prison and various hospitals due to his ill-health.

He received a life sentence in June 2012 for his role in the killing of peaceful protesters during the January 2011 protests that led to his ouster. However, the verdict was overturned in January 2013 by an appeals court due to procedural improprieties, and a retrial was ordered. 

Although he is still facing retrial for these charges, Mubarak was released from prison on 21 August by court order because he had reached the maximum legal limit for pre-trial detention. Following a public outcry against his release, Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi ordered him to be placed under house arrest at a military hospital in Cairo.

Correction: In an earlier version, Ahram Online wrote that the court orderered the arrest of the doctor.

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