Monday, December 26, 2011

Trial of Egypt’s Mubarak and sons to resume in Cairo amid tightened security

The trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Alaa and Gamal, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six senior police officers accused of ordering the killing of protesters during the Jan. 25 revolution, is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, following a three-month halt.

More than 5,000 policemen will be deployed to secure the trial upon the directives of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt’s official news agency reported on Monday.

Earlier this month, the court turned down an appeal for a new judge which was filed by lawyers representing the victims’ families to change Judge Ahmed Refaat.
Television cameras, which were allowed in for the opening sessions, will not be allowed in court when the trial resumes. 
Egypt’s military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi testified in Mubarak’s trial on Sept. 24 under a total media blackout. Leaks of his testimony suggested that he sought to absolve Mubarak of any responsibility for the killing of nearly 850 protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to step down on Feb. 11.

Mubarak is charged with complicity in the killings. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Tantawi was Mubarak’s defense minister for some 20 years, and was widely believed to be blindly loyal to the former leader.

However, he and some two dozen generals who sit on the now-ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took control of the country from Mubarak when he stepped down, pledging to return to the country to civilian rule after a transition period.

Many Egyptians believe the army is no longer fit to manage security on the ground and carry out difficult reforms at a time of political and economic crisis.

On Friday, thousands rallied in Cairo and other cities to demand the army give up power and to vent anger after 17 people were killed in recent protests where troops beat and clubbed women and men even as they lay on the ground, according to Reuters.

Protests continue daily in Tahrir Square. Several hundred protesters have set up camp there. Some are demanding the army bring forward the presidential vote to as early as Jan. 25, the first anniversary of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

Others, worrying that 10 months after Mubarak’s downfall Egypt remains in disarray, protested on Friday to end protests so order can be restored and the economy revitalized.

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