Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, bedridden and looking sickly, was wheeled into the cage of a Cairo courtroom Wednesday morning to be put on trial for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters earlier this year.
The former autocrat's courtroom appearance gripped millions of Egyptians awestruck by the reversal of fortune of a man who ruled the Arab world's most populous nation for three decades with an iron fist.
The first Arab leader overthrown by his own people to face justice, Mr. Mubarak, 83 years old, was ferried by military aircraft from his hospital bed in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheikh. A white ambulance helicopter Wednesday morning deposited the former president at the trial's venue, the Police Academy in Cairo's outskirts. There, he was wheeled on a stretcher into a specially constructed metal cage for defendants.
Standing in the cage alongside were his two sons Alaa and Gamal—as well as the former minister of interior and several former law-enforcement officials. Egyptian television is broadcasting the proceedings live. If convicted, Mr. Mubarak could be sentenced to death, judicial officials said.
Egypt's military rulers, who seized power from Mr. Mubarak amid massive pro-democracy protests on Feb. 11, were initially reluctant to prosecute a fellow general officer who is seen by many as a war hero because of his role as air-force commander during Egypt's 1973 conflict with Israel. It was only in May that Egypt's prosecutors announced they would try the former president, yielding to mounting pressure from the country's liberals, leftists and Islamists alike.
Many Egyptians doubted that the country's interim military rulers would put their former boss, a former air force chief, on trial. But after months of intensifying protests, Egypt's military council made good on its promise to put the country's longtime leader on trial.
Mubarak had not been seen in public since he delivered a defiant speech on Feb. 10, vowing he would not resign. A day later, he hastily traveled to the resort town of Sharm el Sheikh after the country's military chiefs forced him to step down.
The former leader has been hospitalized in in Sharm el-Sheikh for months. Mubarak's lawyer has said the 83-year-old is too ill to be put on trial, but Egypt's health minister certified in recent days that Mubarak is fit enough for the proceedings.
Earlier the judge heard from several lawyers representing relatives of slain demonstrators. The attorneys complained that many relatives of killed protesters had not been allowed inside the courtroom.
As the hearing proceeded, clashed broke out outside the courtroom as groups that appeared to be Mubarak supporters clashed with riot police officers. The dueling sides threw rocks for a few minutes, until security forces intervened to stop the fight.
"We are here because we love our father," the pro-Mubarak crowd chanted before the melee broke out. "No matter what you do we're his children and we'll protect him.
No comments:
Post a Comment