Witness says Adly ordered use of arms; Tantawi’s testimony will be closed to public

A lieutenant, the eighth witness in the trial of former Egyptian president Mubarak’s trial, says a former Egyptian interior minister, Habib al-Adly, ordered equipping the country’s police with firearms, Alarabiya reported on Thursday.

The witness, who presented the court with a CD containing footage shootings that took place on January 28, said the toppled president and Adly are complicit in the deaths of protesters that took place during the revolution.

Another witness said that Adly ordered mobile phone and internet services cut on January 28.

The trial against Egypt’s toppled president, his two sons and six of his high-profile aides began on Thursday to look into their complicity over the shooting of protesters.

Meanwhile, Al Arabiya correspondents in Cairo said that sessions on September 11-15 would be closed to the media and the public.

On September 11 the country’s military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, will testify followed by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Sami Enan on September 12, and former intelligence chief and vice president Omar Suleiman on September 13.

The charges against Mubarak, who has pleaded innocent, follow months of protests demanding justice for the roughly 850 people killed during the revolt that ended the regime.