Egypt’s court sets date for issuing final verdict in Mubarak trial

The verdict in the landmark murder and corruption trial of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak has been set for June 2, Judge Ahmed Refaat told the court on Wednesday.

Mubarak, his former security chief Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs could be sent to the gallows if convicted of complicity in the deaths of peaceful protesters during the uprising that overthrew him.

The verdict will be the final chapter in a tumultuous year for Mubarak, who ruled Egypt with an iron fist for 30 years and was unseated by the 18-day uprising last year.

His sons Alaa and Gamal, the old regime’s symbols of wealth and power, are being tried in the same case for corruption.

More than 850 people were killed in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11, 2011. A military council has been ruling the country since then.

Mubarak is the first Arab leader to be put on trial by the people in modern history.

At Wednesday’s final hearing, Adly, Mubarak’s former interior minister, blamed foreigners for the killing of protesters in the 2011 revolt.

The court on Tuesday refused to consider a lawsuit demanding the referral of Refaat, to a disciplinary board, Egypt’s daily al-Masry al-Youm reported on Wednesday.

The lawsuit was filed by a lawyer named Mostafa Ghoneim, who said Refaat admitted Mubarak to the courtroom lying on a bed with his feet facing the judges and the lawyers, which he considers an insult.

According to the report published by al-Masry al-Youm, Ghoneim also said that Refaat allowed Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly to sit alone on the front bench inside the court cage with his assistant behind him as if he still holds his rank, and that he did not separate the case of demonstrators’ deaths from the case of squandering public funds.

The court said it has no jurisdiction to refer judges to disciplinary boards, an issue that is in the hands of the justice minister and not the State Council, which handles disputes between citizens and state institutions.

The court listened Monday to the prosecution’s final case and the civil rights plaintiffs on the arguments raised by the defense in the case.
Attorney General Moustafa Suleiman said that that slander and fabrication, either intentionally or unintentionally, by the defendants’ lawyers in Mubarak’s trial over the last month is against the law and requires legal action, a report carried out by the Daily News of Egypt said.

Suleiman said in his closing remarks that the former president should be given the death penalty, saying he authorized the use of live ammunition and a shoot-to-kill policy against peaceful protesters.

“This is not a case about the killing of one or ten or 20 civilians, but a case of an entire nation,” he told the court, according to the newspaper report.

He explained that there are more than 1,500 witnesses who agreed that the police attacked demonstrators, and that it was impossible for the prosecution to reach the original perpetrators – the police officers – as they were distributed over the squares and in the middle of large crowds.

“We hope that someone’s conscience is awoken and the unknown principal perpetrators are reported, but this doesn’t mean that the defendants will escape punishment,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily News of Egypt.

As for accusing unidentified foreign elements and the security of the American University in Cairo (AUC) of killing protesters, Suleiman said that the investigation did not reach any of these elements, adding that the only role Hamas and Hezbollah played was smuggling their kin after storming Egyptian prisons.

(Additional writing by Abeer Tayel)