Egyptians expect a sham trial

Cairo: One of the posters often raised by protesters every Friday in central Cairo shows former president Hosni Mubarak with a noose tightened around his neck.

But many Egyptians are sceptical if the trial, due to start Wednesday, will end in a guilty verdict for the man who ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years.

"His trial will be a sham," said Mahmoud Hasouna, a commerce student.

"Authorities keep saying that Mubarak is seriously ill. His lawyer will surely take advantage of these reports as a pretext for his client to escape punishment," he added.

Mubarak was forced to step down in February after an 18-day popular uprising.

He has been staying at a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh for medical treatment since April after reportedly suffering a heart attack.

Victory

Mubarak, 83, his two sons, ex-interior minister Habib Al Adli and six security aides are charged with ordering a deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters earlier this year. At least 846 people were shot dead during the anti-Mubarak revolt.

"Mubarak's trial marks a victory for the revolution," said Hamdy Zaghloul, one of the protesters who camped out in Al Tahrir Square in Cairo for three weeks. They demanded, among other things, public and quick prosecution of Mubarak.

"I am confident that the Egyptian judiciary will not allow him to get way with his crimes despite reports released about his health deliberately to gain sympathy for him," he told Gulf News.

On Sunday, Ahmad Refaat, the chief judge of the court that will hear the case, said the trial will be broadcast live on official Egyptian television and will be held on successive days.

The trial will be held at the Police Academy on the outskirts of Cairo amid tight security from the police and the army. Chief Prosecutor Abdul Majid Mahmoud has ordered Mubarak to attend the trial, local newspapers reported yesterday. They added that Interior Minister Mansour Al Essawi is taking "all measures" to comply with the order.

Protests planned

Supporters of Mubarak have vowed to hold protests against his "humiliating" trial outside the venue. "On Wednesday, we will give Israel a precious gift by putting on trial Mubarak who participated in the October 1973 [military] victory against it," said Nasser Ahmad, a member of Mubarak's now-disbanded National Democratic Party.

"Israel should send a thank you note to the Egyptians for their cooperation in humiliating one of the symbols of the October War," he added sarcastically.

According to the director of the Sharm Al Shaikh Hospital, the latest reports show that Mubarak is in good health, but he has been depressed for more than a week.

Mubarak, an ex-army officer, will be the first ruler to go on trial in the history of the Egypt. "When the trial opens on August 3, Egypt will be ushered into a new phase that historians may later refer to as the era of presidents' trial," wrote the semi-official newspaper Al Ahram.

"Even Egypt may set a trend in the Arab region where rulers will turn from despotic pharaohs into ordinary people who will be brought to justice if they err," it added in a recent editorial.

Protesters, army clash

Clashes erupted Wednesday between the army and protesters refusing to end a strike of more than three weeks in central Cairo.

Army and police troops were deployed inside the Tahrir Square in Cairo to evacuate protesters who had decided to keep camping out in the plaza after many others said they would suspend their strike during Ramadan.

The army shot in the air as protesters threw stones at the troops, according to eyewitnesses. Many protesters holed up inside the nearby Omar Makram Mosque, they added. There were no immediate reports on casualties.

The clashes came two days before the start of an eagerly awaited trial for former president Hosni Mubarak who was toppled in a popular revolt in February.