Former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was back in the defendants’ cage alongside his two sons, former interior minister, and six security chiefs.  He’s charged with complicity in the killings of 900 protesters in the demonstrations that led to his overthrow in 2011.

Mubarak was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison last year, but another court overturned that on appeal; the 85-year-old is being held under house arrest in hospital during the retrial.  The case will be continued on 14 September.

In another Cairo court, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, who themselves were pushed from power in July, were facing similar charges of conspiring to kill protesters.  Their trial resumes at the end of October.

Meanwhile, the military that took the reins from both Mubarak and the Brotherhood is feeling more confident about going forward; it relaxed a night-time curfew.

Another military government panel presented the first draft of a proposed constitutional amendment that scraps last year's Islamist additions to the constitution, the source of much of the anger that toppled the Muslim Brotherhood.