Hosni Mubarak denies all charges against him

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak has denied all charges of corruption and
complicity in killing protesters during Egypt’s uprising after a court
detailed the allegations against him at the opening session of his trial.

The ailing former president lay on a hospital bed inside a cage of mesh and
iron bars in a Cairo courtroom as his historic trial began.

The scene, shown live on Egypt’s state TV, was Egyptians’ first look at the
83-year-old since February 10, the day before his fall when he gave a
defiant speech refusing to resign.

Inside the cage, an ashen-looking Mubarak craned his head up to see the
proceedings, a sheet drawn up to his chest.

His two sons, Gamal and Alaa, who are on trial with him, stood next to his
bed, leaning over to talk with him. The elder Mubarak and his nine
co-defendants, also including his former interior minister, all wore white
prison uniforms.

Outside the Cairo police academy where the trial was being held, hundreds of
his opponents and angry supporters scuffled.

In chaotic scenes, hundreds of policemen in gleaming white uniforms and riot
police with shields and helmets separated demonstrators hurling stones and
bottles at each other.

It was a sign of the profound emotions stirred by the unprecedented
prosecution of the man who ruled Egypt with unquestioned power for 29 years
until he was toppled in February by an 18-day uprising.

For many Egyptians, the trial is a chance of retribution for decades of
oppressive rule in which opponents were tortured, corruption was rife,
poverty spread and political life was stifled. But for others, he was a
symbol of stability.

The courtroom itself is divided. Relatives of the defendants sat in rows of
seats near the cage. A fence running through the middle of the chamber
divided them from the rest of the audience of around 300 people, including a
few relatives of of protesters killed in the uprising, far enough away that
they cannot shout or throw anything at the former leader.

Security was extremely heavy outside the courtroom, set up in a lecture hall
at what was once named the Mubarak Police Academy in the capital.

Early this morning, some 50 of Mubarak’s supporters gathered outside, chanting
slogans and holding portraits of the former leader.

“We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak,” they
screamed at hundreds of police and army troops backed by armoured personnel
carriers.

The pro-Mubarak protesters threw stones toward a giant screen set up outside
the police academy, though a police cordon kept them a distance away.

Anti-Mubarak protesters held up shoes at the screen in a sign of contempt for
the ousted president.

For the president’s opponents, it was an unbelievable moment.

“I have many feelings. I am happy, satisfied. I feel this a real success
for the revolution, and I feel that the moment of real retribution is near,”
Mostafa el-Naggar, one of the leading youth activists who organised the
anti-Mubarak uprising and a member of one of Egypt’s newest parties,
Justice, said after Mubarak’s arrival at the venue.

“This is a moment no Egyptian ever thought was possible.”

The trial answers, at least partially, a growing clamour in Egypt for justice
not only for the wrongs of Mubarak’s authoritarian regime but also for the
violent suppression of the largely peaceful uprising, in which 850
protesters were killed.

It came only after heavy pressure by activists on the now ruling military –
one of the few demands which still unites the disparate protest movement.

Near Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the protesters, a dozen people swarmed
around newspapers at a stand, reading headlines about the trial. One man
spat on a picture of Mubarak on a front page.

“When he is in the cage and we know he is there, then we know we have
started to put our feet on the path of justice,” said the newspaper
seller, Nabil Hassan, 65.

“If he and his accomplices are in court, he becomes one of the people no
different from anyone else facing justice. I have faith in Egyptian judges.”

Before giving up power, as protests raged around him, Mubarak vowed he would
die on Egyptian soil. After his fall, he fled to one of his residences in
the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

In April, he was moved to a hospital there and placed under arrest as he
underwent treatment. Doctors said he has heart problems.

There had been scepticism up to the moment Mubarak left the hospital for the
airport in a six-car convoy that he would actually appear for the opening of
his trial.

He was flown by helicopter from Sharm directly to the police academy for the
trial this morning.

Mubarak, his former interior minister Habib el-Adly, and six top police
officers are charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the
protesters killed during the uprising, according to the official charge
sheet. All eight could face the death penalty if convicted.

Separately, Mubarak and his two sons – one-time heir apparent Gamal and
wealthy businessman Alaa – face charges of corruption. The two sets of
charges have been lumped together in one mass trial.

For weeks after his fall, while Mubarak lived in a palace in Sharm, the ruling
generals who took power from him – and who were all appointed by Mubarak
before the uprising – appeared reluctant to prosecute him.

Their hand forced, the generals now seem eager to show the public that they
are bringing the fruits of the revolution. The trial will be televised live
on state TV, and judges say proceedings will be expedited, without long
postponements.

Many Egyptians are eagerly anticipating the chance of retribution against the
long-time ruler. But they also question whether the trial will truly break
with the injustices of the past.

Some fear Egypt’s new military rulers are touting the trial as proof that
democratic reform has been accomplished, even as activists argue that far
deeper change is still needed.

The prosecution is an unprecedented moment in the Arab world, the first time a
modern Middle East leader has been put on trial fully by his own people.

The closest event to it was former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s trial, but
his capture came at the hands of US troops in 2003 and his special tribunal
was set up with extensive consultation with American officials and
international experts.

Tunisia’s deposed president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has been tried and
convicted several times since his fall several weeks before Mubarak’s, but
all in absentia and he remains in exile in Saudi Arabia.

Until Mubarak was moved from his hospital early today there had been doubt
that he would actually attend court. It was thought he might be exempted for
health reasons, after weeks of reports of his worsening condition from the
Sharm hospital where he has been held in custody.

If he had not appeared, it could have triggered another upheaval of rancorous
protests.

For the military, the trial is a chance to try to strengthen its position.

The broader public has grown discontented with the breakdown in security
around the country and faltering economy since the uprising began.

Youth groups which led the uprising have continued protests against the
military, saying they are fumbling the transition to civilian rule and have
not moved to dismantle remnants of Mubarak’s regime still in place. The
military itself has been tainted by reports of human rights violations,
including torture.

The generals have tried to turn the public against activists, accusing them of
receiving foreign funds and training. On Monday, tensions were hiked when
troops broke up a three-week-old sit-in in Tahrir Square by hard-core
protesters.

Prosecuting Mubarak is widely popular among a public angered by widespread
corruption, police abuses and his lock on political power. Regime opponents,
whether Islamists or pro-democracy activists, are eager for retribution
after years of crackdowns and torture against them.

The question is whether it will mean a real uprooting of the system he headed.

Mubarak was placed under arrest in April but was admitted to the Sharm
hospital with a heart condition, sparing him the indignity of detention in
Cairo’s Torah Prison, where his sons and some three dozen former regime
figures have been held.

Media reports have spoken of Mubarak refusing to eat and suffering from
depression.

On Monday, state television said the most recent tests showed his health was “relatively
stable” given his age but that his psychological condition was
worsening.

But Health Minister Amr Helmy said last week that Mubarak was fit to travel to
Cairo to stand trial.