The Egyptian court recently accepted an appeal by former president Hosni Mubarak and his former interior minister on Sunday, allowing him to be retried over the massacre of protesters back  in the 2011 uprising.

Mubarak and former interior minister Habib al-Adli were sentenced to life in prison in June last year in a court ruling. They were held them responsible for the deaths of protesters killed by security forces trying to quell the uprising. The court has also ordered a retrial of al-Adli's aides.

"The court has ruled to accept the appeal filed by the defendants ... and orders a retrial," Judge Ahmed Ali Abdel Rahman of the Egyptian Court of Appeals said Sunday.

Crowds of Mubarak supporters attending the trial cheered. The 84-year-old former leader was moved from prison to a military hospital in late December after a couple of broken ribs from a fall.

"The retrial will be based on the same evidence used in the previous trial. No new evidence will be added to the case," Mohamed Abdel Razek, one of Mubarak's lawyers, told Reuters.

He added that the new panel of judges could consider Mubarak's health when issuing a verdict. The trial that convicted Mubarak, whose regime was toppled by an uprising in 2011 after 30 years ruling Egypt, set a precedent for holding Middle East autocrats to account.

It was the first time an ousted Arab leader had faced an ordinary court in person since a wave of uprisings shook the Arab world, sweeping away four entrenched rulers. Six top police commanders, who faced the same charge of complicity in killing protesters, were acquitted for what the judge said was lack of concrete evidence.