Mubarak Trial Moved to August 15, 2011

Egyptian Gazette, News agencies

Wednesday, August 3, 2011 09:42:32 PM

CAIRO (Updated )-

The judge trying Egypt's Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday that the court would reconvene to hear the case of the former president on Aug. 15 and said the fallen leader would be moved from a hospital on the Red Sea to one near Cairo.

Judge Ahmed Refaat speaks in the courtroom during the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Police Academy in Cairo in this still image taken from video August 3, 2011.

Judge Ahmed Refaat also ordered that Mubarak and others involved would be required to attend the next session.

"The court has decided to resume the case on Aug. 15," the judge said, adding that Mubarak would be held in detention in a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo where he could receive full medical treatment, instead of Sharm El Sheikh.

Separately, judge said the court would reconvene for the case of former Intterior Minister Habib Al Adli on Aug. 4.

Mubarak to stay in Cairo

Toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who went on trial on Wednesday on murder charges, will stay in Cairo for the duration of the proceedings, an official told the state news agency MENA.

Mubarak will be staying at the hospital in the compound of the Police Academy where the trial is being held, "to guarantee his attendance," the official said.

The ailing former president was flown on Wednesday morning from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he had been held in custody in hospital being treated for a heart condition.
Judge Ahmed Refaat, presiding over the Cairo Criminal Court, 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 be immediately adjourned indefinitely.

Mubarak is being tried along with his two sons Alaa and Gamal, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs.

Murabk, sons plead not guilty

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday pleaded not guilty for charges of ordering a deadly crackdown on protesters erlier this year and corruption.

Appearing lying on a bed inside a steel cage at a makeshift courtroom on the outskirts of Cairo, Mubarak, 83, told the court: "I deny all these charges".

Mubarak, his two sons, ex-interior minister Habib Al Adly and six senior policemen, face charges of involvement in killing around 850 people during a popular revolt that ousted him in February.
Lawyers for the slain protesters demanded that Mubarak be kept under detention in the Torah Prison south of Cairo instead of being allowed to stay at a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

They also asked that all other cases related to killing protesters across Egypt, involving other policemen, be merged into the same trial.

Other lawyers requested the court to summon senior officials at the state-run telecommunications regulatory authority to say who ordered them to cut off the Internet connections during the anti-Mubarak revolt.

Defence lawyers question legality of trial

Defence lawyers for former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday claimed that his trial on charges of ordering the killing of protesters is invalid allegedly because a court last month merged his case into that of former interior minister Habib Al Adly.

Mubarak and Al Adly, who served as his interior minister for 13 years, are standing trial on charges of involvement in killing around 850 people during a popular uprising that forced Mubarak to step down in February.

Both appeared Wednesday inside a steel cage of a makeshift courtroom in the Police Academy on the outskirts of Cairo.

Mubarak's lawyers, moreover, requested the court hearing the case to summon the chief of the ruling military council Mohammad Hussain Tantawi and former vice president Omar Sulaiman to be cross-examined.

Mubark's two sons, Alaa and Jamal, and six senior policemen Wednesday appeared for the same trial facing the same charges.

Ahmed Refaat, the presiding judge of the court, ended the first session for a short break.
Clashes, meanwhile, erupted anew between Mubarak's supporters and opponents outside the court building.

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