Egypt protests called against Mubarak verdict

Egyptian activists who spearheaded the revolt that toppled US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak have called for mass demonstrations on Tuesday to protest against verdicts handed down in the tyrant's murder trial.

Mubarak and his interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison on Saturday, but six security commanders were acquitted over the killings of demonstrators during last year's uprising that left around 850 people dead.

The ruling sparked outrage across the country, with protesters who took to the streets furious that no one had been found directly guilty of killing the protesters.

The pro-democracy April 6 movement, the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth, and the Maspero Youth Union, among others, called for a mass protest at 1500 GMT on Tuesday.

The runners-up of last month's presidential election, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi and moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh will lead separate marches to Tahrir Square in central Cairo, they said in statements.

The two came third and fourth respectively in the May 23-24 election that narrowed to a presidential runoff later this month between Mubarak-era minister Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi.

Saturday's verdict prompted spontaneous demonstrations across Egypt, with some protesters declaring a sit-in in Tahrir Square – the epicenter of protests that toppled Mubarak.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)