CAIRO: An Egyptian judge has ordered a media blackout during the next phase of the retrial of Hosni Mubarak, 85. Judge Mahmoud El-Rachidi said the sessions, to be held on 19-21 October, would involve national security issues.

The sessions will include testimonies from former security officials, including ex-Interior Minister Ahmed Gamaleddin and ex-intelligence chief Murad Muwafi. Egypt’s current Oil Minister, Sherif Ismail, is also to give testimony in relation to the corruption charges.

Egypt’s ousted long-time autocrat was back in court Saturday, grinning and waving as his trial resumed on charges related to the killings of some 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.

He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for failing to stop the killings, but his sentence was overturned on appeal earlier this year and a retrial was ordered.

The retrial comes against the backdrop of continued turmoil in Egypt. Unrest has spiked after the popularly backed July 3 military coup that toppled Mubarak’s successor, Muhammad Mursi. The interim, military-backed government has targeted members of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood group and arrested hundreds on charges of inciting violence.

Mursi himself is detained at an unknown location and a state of emergency was imposed following a deadly crackdown on his supporters last month. Mursi, who was Egypt’s first freely elected president, faces accusations of conspiring with Palestinian gunmen from neighboring Gaza Strip in his escape from prison during the anti-Mubarak uprising.

One of the defendants’ lawyers in Mubarak’s trial on Saturday suggested that the Brotherhood and Palestinian militants were behind the killings of protesters during the uprising.

Mubarak, his two sons and a business aide — who has since fled Egypt and is being tried in absentia — also face corruption charges in the same case. Both of Mubarak’s sons were in the Cairo court with him on Saturday.

Mubarak was wheeled into the defendants’ cage in the heavily-fortified courtroom for the hearing, broadcast live on state television. The former president sat upright, waving to two female supporters who snapped photos of him with their tablet.