[JURIST] An Egyptian court on Saturday dropped charges against former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [Al Jazeera profile, JURIST news archive] by dismissing the case . Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi, who read the verdict for the three-panel court, stated that charges should have never been brought. Critics alleged that the postponed [JURIST report] verdict is a political one, but Rashidi denies that the verdict had anything to do with politics and encouraged critics to read the court’s reasoning for the verdict. Mubarak, his former security chief Habib El-Adly and six former government aides were being retried on charges of corruption and complicity in the killing of more than 100 protesters during the country’s 2011 uprising. The charges against Mubarak’s government aides were also dropped. The court’s decision may be appealed.

Mubarak and other members of his administration have been the subject of controversial judicial proceedings since the Egyptian Revolution [JURIST backgrounder]. In May an Egyptian criminal court in Cairo convicted [JURIST report] Mubarak of embezzling millions of dollars of public money and sentenced the former president to three years in prison. The court also sentenced Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal to four years in prison for their role in the embezzling scheme. Last December an Egyptian court acquitted [JURIST report] former Egyptian prime minister and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq and Alaa and Gamal Mubarak of charges of embezzling public funds. In August of last yearMubarak appeared in court for his retrial on complicity charges [JURIST report] in the killing of more than 100 protesters during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. The same week Mubarak was released from prison [JURIST report] and placed under house arrest at a military hospital after a court concluded that he served the maximum in time allowed in connection with the long-pending corruption case. In July 2013 lawyers for Mubarak entered [JURIST report] a not guilty plea in his retrial.