Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted after mass protests during the Arab Spring in 2011, testified in a Cairo court Wednesday against the president that replaced him, Mohamed Morsi.

Mubarak's testimony was requested in the retrial of a case revolving around allegations that Morsi helped orchestrate prison breaks during the mass uprising with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Prosecutors also say that members of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and members of Hezbollah, which holds a number of government positions in Lebanon, also aided the jailbreaks.

Morsi has been aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood throughout his political career. He ran for parliament as an independent in 2000 because the group was banned from running candidates. Morsi was arrested in 2011 alongside 24 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood but escaped after spending just two days inside. The following year, Morsi was elected president on the Freedom and Justice Party ticket, a group with strong links to the Brethren.

At the time western analysts hailed Morsi as the "first democratically elected" president of Egypt but his rule lasted scarcely a few days more than a year. In June 2013, anti-Morsi protests swept the country and the military gave the political parties in the country three days to meet the demands of the protesters calling for Morsi to leave power.

Morsi refused and the military, led by then-army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, seized power, with el-Sisi remaining at the helm ever since.

Since then, Morsi has been charged with a number of offenses, including incitement over the slaughter of protesters outside his palace in 2012, his escape from prison in 2011, espionage and more. He was sentenced to death in 2015.

Egypt's top appeals court overturned the verdict however, ordering the retrial which saw both Morsi and Mubarak return to court on Wednesday.

Mubarak, who was strongly supported by the United States during his 30 years in power, refused to answer the majority of the judge's questions, arguing that if he talks he would "open many subjects that I am barred from discussing without permission." Therefore, he requested that he be granted permission from the current president, el-Sisi.

Earlier in December, Mubarak was expected in court but failed to show up. His lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, told the court that as a member of the military, Mubarak had to obtain permission from them as well before testifying.