Egypt’s Mubarak on trial for murder

AFP

Yesterday

Alaa (L) and Gamal Mubarak (R) stand either side of their father, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, during their trial at the Police Academy in Cairo in this still image taken from video August 3, 2011. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was wheeled into a courtroom cage in a hospital bed on Wednesday to face trial for killing protesters, an image that thrilled those who overthrew him and must have chilled other Arab autocrats facing popular uprisings. -Reuters Photo

CAIRO: Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak was wheeled into court on a stretcher on Wednesday and denied murder and graft charges, as sporadic clashes erupted outside between his supporters and his foes.
The former strongman, looking pale and dressed in white, pleaded not guilty from a metal-barred cage to the premeditated murder of protesters who took to the streets to topple his regime in an uprising that erupted on January 25.
He and his sons Alaa and Gamal also denied all corruption charges. After a four-hour hearing, the former strongman’s first public appearance since he resigned on February 11, the trial of the Mubaraks was adjourned until August 15.
Former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six of his deputies were also in the dock in the same case, and they are due in court again on Thursday.
Judge Ahmed Refaat, presiding over the Cairo Criminal Court, said Mubarak would be staying at the International Medical Centre, a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo, until the next hearing.
In response to a request by the defence team, Refaat agreed to allow an oncologist to follow up on Mubarak’s health during his hospital stay.
Alaa and Gamal seemed composed throughout the hearing and appeared to take turns to shield their ailing father from the television cameras, leaning down regularly to talk to him.
The trial of Mubarak, whose spectacular downfall sent shockwaves across the region, was a key demand of the uprising.
One civil society lawyer called for Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and Mubarak’s long-time defence minister, to appear as a witness in the trial.
Lawyers jostled for microphones during the hearing that was for the most part conducted in an orderly manner.
However, outside the courtroom clashes erupted between loyalists and foes of the former president, with several people injured.
Pro-Mubarak protesters carried pictures of him, while his opponents held up posters of the former president behind a noose, and security forces stepped in repeatedly to separate both sides.
The crowd, including families of victims killed during the uprising, had been watching the trial on a large screen outside the Police Academy, once called the Mubarak Police Academy.
Judge Refaat last week vowed a speedy trial and said that the sessions would be held on consecutive days.
Until the last minute, it was widely believed Mubarak would not show up, or that the trial would open and then be adjourned indefinitely.
The hearing has gripped the nation, and Cairo’s usually bustling streets were abnormally quiet during the proceedings.
Mubarak, 83, was flown to the capital earlier from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he had been in custody in hospital being treated for a heart condition.
Security was tight, with barbed wire outside the Police Academy and more than a dozen riot police trucks securing the entrances, an AFP reporter said.
The trial is being held in an auditorium fitted with a large black cage to hold the defendants, including Adly on whom Mubarak relied to quell the revolt, and six police chiefs.
The defendants are accused of stealing millions of dollars from the state and ordering the killing of anti-regime protesters during the uprising.
More than 1,000 police and soldiers secured the complex and vetted some 600 lawyers and journalists.
Mubarak will also face some relatives of the victims killed during the revolt, allegedly on his orders.
For weeks, it seemed likely that Mubarak, who doctors say refused to leave his hospital bed, would be tried in Sharm el-Sheikh, but the justice ministry announced last week the trial would be held in Cairo.

Bloody clashes in Egypt despite democracy pledge

Egyptian soldiers stand guard behind barbed wire as protesters demonstrate outside the defence ministry, the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in Cairo on July 23, 2011 to show their anger at the ruling military's handling of the transition from the former regime. – AFP Photo

CAIRO: Bloody clashes erupted in Cairo between protesters demanding political change and loyalists of the ruling military council, hours after the military ruler pledged democracy.
Riot police fired tear gas at protesters who were being pelted with rocks and bottles by loyalists in the Abasseya district Saturday near the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which took power when President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.
One petrol bomb landed near a protester, setting his clothes on fire, and dozens of injured were treated by ambulance crews on the scene, an AFP correspondent said.
The health ministry said 231 people were injured in the clashes, including 39 who needed hospital treatment.
There were chaotic scenes as army loyalists, all civilians, climbed onto the roofs of buildings and threw rocks at the protesters.
Soldiers and riot police lined a main street in Abasseya while army loyalists blocked other streets in the area, trapping protesters in the middle.
“We have asked them to let us go — they’ve refused,” long-time activist and blogger Wael Abbas told AFP.
One protester used the microphone in a nearby mosque to urge the army through the building’s loudspeakers to “protect the protesters.” The clashes came after the ruling military accused protesters camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, singling out the pro-democracy April 6 movement which helped launch the uprising that toppled Mubarak, of sowing instability.
“The thugs are surrounding us, the riot police is with them and the army is doing nothing,” protester Loai Omran, 40, told AFP.
“But this time, they are going to make us out to be the traitors,” he said, standing on the street littered with stones and glass.
A military official told state television that “the armed forces have dealt with restraint, despite the fact that Tahrir protesters were pelting the army with stones and bottles.” It was the second time protesters had tried to reach the SCAF headquarters, after a similar attempt was prevented overnight.
Hours earlier, Egypt’s military ruler said he was committed to democracy.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of SCAF and Mubarak’s long-time defence minister, pledged in a television address to work for a free system through fair elections and a constitution.
He vowed to “pave the way for the pillars of a democratic state, which promotes freedom, the rights of citizens through free and fair parliamentary elections, a new constitution and the election of a president chosen by the people.” Tantawi’s address came after the SCAF accused the April 6 pro-democracy movement of sowing strife after hundreds tried to march to the defence ministry overnight.
Hundreds of people had left Tahrir Square and headed for the ministry to denounce the army’s handling of the transition.
They were blocked by hundreds of military police and armoured vehicles, who closed off large parts of the capital’s centre, a security official said.
One man was injured, apparently when a blank cartridge hit his head, a security official said.
The military rulers accused the April 6 movement of “driving a wedge between the people and the army.”In a statement distributed to reporters, the youth group denied the military’s accusations.
“We used to think that the revolution changed matters for the better, but we were filled with sadness after this statement was issued,” it said.
“We have never tried to pit the military against the people. We were directing political criticism towards the military council, that adopted the Egyptian people’s demands,” it said.
It was the first time a group has been singled out by the military, which called on “the people to exercise vigilance and not to be drawn into this suspicious plot which aims to undermine Egypt’s stability.” Despite Mubarak’s spectacular downfall, protesters have continued to take to the streets to denounce the military council over the slow pace of reform.
The military has also come under fire for alleged rights abuses and for using Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.
Since July 8, protesters have camped out in Tahrir Square – epicentre of protests that toppled Mubarak — and vowed to continue until their demands are met.
Their key demands are the trial of former regime officials, an end to military trials of civilians, the purge of Mubarak officials from senior government posts and the redistribution of wealth.