Lawyers for Mubarak begin legal fightback

Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak was wheeled on Tuesday into court where the defence was to begin its case, television showed, as his lawyer said he would need five sessions to defend the ousted strongman.

The prosecution has called for Mubarak to hang for the deaths at the hands of his security forces of hundreds of protesters during the 18-day revolt that forced him out of power last February.

Chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said at a previous hearing the ailing 83-year-old Mubarak must have ordered police to open fire on protesters during violence which left more than 850 people dead.

Mubarak “must have agreed on the killings,” Suleiman told the court on January 5, explaining that co-defendant and former interior minister Habib al-Adly would have given the orders to police commanders to fire on protesters.

Six senior Adly aides are also tried in the case while Mubarak’s two sons Gamal and Alaa are on trial with their father on separate charges of corruption. State television showed ailing Mubarak being wheeled into the Police Academy in Cairo on Tuesday.