Mubarak Trial Live Blog
Mubarak, a former Air Force officer and only the fourth president in Egyptian history, served for 30 years. [GETTY/GALLO]
Six months after stepping down in the face of a massive uprising against his rule, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is set to become one of the few Arab leaders in recent history to be put on trial by his own people.
Analysis: "Mubarak trial seen as symbolic test"
Al Jazeera on Twitter: Sherine Tadros, Rawya Rageh, Jamal Elshayyal, and Nadia Aboulmagd
Al Jazeera English livestream and Al Jazeera Mubasher ongoing coverage
Presiding Judge Ahmed Rifaat allowed Mubarak lawyer Farid el-Deeb to read seven more requests and then adjourned "for deliberations". Court appears to be done for the day.
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After roughly an hour of lawyers who represent protesters making demands, including one who claimed that Mubarak had died in 2004 and been replaced by an imposter, presiding Judge Ahmed Rifaat has ordered all lawyers to take their seats.
Egyptian journalist Manar Mohsen comments on the circus-like atmosphere inside the courtroom:
Did a lawyer just say that this is all a conspiracy since Mubarak died in 2005? Have we descended into insanity this early on? #MubarakTrial
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Former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly listens to lawyers for slain protesters make demands during the opening proceedings of the trial against Mubarak and his sons:
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Much of the action that has taken place after the adjournment has centered on demands from lawyers representing slain or injured protesters. They are demanding that a host of former regime officials be made to appear at court, that security "snipers" be brought in for interrogation about what orders they were given, and that all evidence and records related to the course be kept electronically and distrubted by CD.
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Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh observes a historical irony in the location of the makeshift courthouse where Mubarak and the others are being tried:
Small observation: In this very hall, #Mubarak gave his last speech b4 #Jan25 to mark police day alongside Interior Min #Adly #Egypt
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Prosecutor Moustafa Soliman read out a host of charges against Mubarak, his sons Gamal and Alaa, and Hussein Salem - the businessman who is being tried in absentia.
Pre-eminent among the charges is that Mubarak conspired with others to attack and kill the protesters demanding he step down. The prosecutor specified that the crimes occurred between January 25 and 31 in a number of governorates, including Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Suez, Beni Suef and others.
Mubarak and ex-Interior Minister Habib el-Adly "thus [intended] to end the lives of certain demonstrators and force others to disperse, yield and give up their demands and to continue holding the reins of power."
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Mubarak shown here after entering his not guilty plea in a brief statement, saying he denied all the charges "categorically":
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Pro-democracy activist and citizen journalist Lilian Wagdy reflects the sentiments of the protesters who strove to bring down Mubarak:
The words of the prosecution against Mubarak and his gang are like music to my ears #Mubaraktrial
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Prosecutor Moustafa Soliman reads out the official charges against Mubrak and others while a crowd watches outside on a large screen:
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Lawyers for the slain and injured protesters are now making their statements. One man, who represents 32 people, demands 50,000 pounds in recompense for each killed protester and 10,000 for each one who was injured.
He also wants to widen the case to include other regime officials, including former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif.
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Anthony Bubalo, a Middle East politics researcher at the Lowy Institute, comments on the importance of the trial for Egyptian society:
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The trial has resumed; defence lawyers are still making statements.
Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, 10 to 15 protesters have reportedly been arrested, and 10 people injured.
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After one defence lawyer makes another demand - to subpoena current Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawi, presiding Judge Ahmed Rifaat adjourns for a break. The defendants all leave the cage.
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Ashraf Khalil, a Cairo-based columnist, comments on what to many observers seem to be chaotic opening proceedings in the trial:
To those who have never witnessed an Egyptian trial, yes they're all like this. Usually in a much hotter and nastier courtroom #Mubaraktrial
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Mubarak has been laying in a hospital bed during the entire proceeding. At times he has seemed comfortable, resting his head on his hands, but at others he has seemed somewhat pained, as below:
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Defense lawyers have raised a number of demands in the opening hour of the trial, and we still have not arrived at the Mubaraks' case yet.
Lawyers for ex-Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six high-ranking security officers have said that it was illegal for a previous judge to join their case with the Mubaraks'. They also want the judicial panel to examine crime scenes and call as witnesses Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's longtime intelligence chief, and Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, his former defence minister and the current chief of the military council running the country.
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Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine, wonders about Mubarak's former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Suleiman was briefly appointed Mubarak's vice president during the protests:
How is it that Omar Suleiman has escaped any culpability? #mubaraktrial
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Most important trial of our history is this chaotic. Imagine what normal trials look like #mubaraktrial
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A lawyer for former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly has asked the court to adjourn for a month so that the defence team can examine the file against Adly and others in more detail. Farid el-Deeb, Mubarak's lawyer, says a week should suffice. The judge has not yet ruled.
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A defense lawyer has just finished reading a list of locations he would like the judicial panel to evaluate in an effort to prove that security forces could not have fired on protesters from them. Afterward, he read a list of Interior Ministry officials he would like to subpoena from various departments.
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Farid el-Deeb, the Mubaraks' lead lawyer, is trying to submit a memo arguing that the joining of the Mubaraks' case with former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly's case was illegal. The two cases were joined a few weeks ago, prior to this, Adly and the other high-ranking officers had been in their own trial.
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In the defendants' cage, ex-Interior Minister Habib el-Adly sits in a blue jumpsuit in the front row by himself. Six formerly senior officers in the interior ministry sit behind him in white. Hosni Mubarak lies to the side of a cage in a hospital bed, and his sons Gamal and Alaa stand next to him in white.
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Here's a screengrab showing the cage containing all the defendants: Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Gamal and Alaa, ex-Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six senior officers in the interior ministry:
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I hope every dictator watching the #MubarakTrial be shaking in their seats. Really. I hope you all get your day.
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Ousted President Hosni Mubarak, leader of Egypt for 30 years, seen here behind bars on a hospital bed at his trial. He faces the death penalty.
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Former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and Mubarak's son Gamal, long thought to be the presumptive successor, preparing to enter the defendants' cage:
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The trial is being broadcast on a large screen outside the police academy in Cairo, but pro- and anti-Mubarak attendees have not been separated. Some people are throwing rocks at the screen, while Mubarak supporters have strung up a banner beneath it.
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Rock throwing again. Police literally shoved me out of the way so he can run away. Way to protect the citizens, jerk. #MubarakTrial
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Egyptian journalist Raguia Mostafa, reporting for Al Jazeera from near the police academy, says the crowd outside numbers around 200 to 250 people and that 10 were injured during scuffles this morning.
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Here's a screengrab from the state television feed showing the courtroom seating, the judges seats in front, and the cage for the defendants off to the left:
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Lilian Wagdy, a progressive activist and citizen journalist, tells Al Jazeera that the scene outside the police academy courthouse is a "show of force," with pro- and anti-Mubarak sides trying to out-chant one another.
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Khaled Fahmy, a professor of legal history at the American University in Cairo, tells Al Jazeera that there are "blemishes" on the record of Ahmed Rifaat, the judge who will preside over Mubarak's trial.
Rifaat acquitted former air force officers who had been accused of corruption in a deal to build an airport on the coast of the Red Sea, Fahmy said.
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You'd think this is a football match that we're anticipating, world. It's not, this is way way more important. #mubaraktrial
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I cannot believe myself, commentator on Egyptian state TV saying that we used to live in a dictatorship. #MubarakTrial #Egypt
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The courtroom in the police academy is filling up with people (though no defendant has appeared in the cage yet):
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Here's an image of the ambulance that was thought to be transporting Mubarak to trial. It was impossible to see if he emerged from it:
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The only camera allowed to broadcast from inside the police academy courtroom is operated by Egyptian state television, but we will be carrying its images all day. Here's the first shot from inside the courtroom, specifically the cage where the defendants are meant to be held:
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In poor nhood of Imbaba, families up early, setting up televisions on the streets to watch #mubaraktrial.
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Cheers went up as a military helicopter approached the police academy, though there was no way to know who was inside:
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A police officer just told me they have to put Mubrak to trial he had murdered 30 generations #mubaraktrial
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Daily News journalist Farah Saafan posted this picture of some demosntrators at the police academy bearing a poster of "martyrs," including slain Alexandria businessman Khalid Said, whose alleged murder at the hands of police helped sparked the uprising:
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Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from outside the police academy, says journalists were allowed inside the courtroom hours ago and that Mubarak's sons Gamal and Alaa, who are also on trial, have been inside for "some time".
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"president mubarak was the first one to support and protect the revolution" reads big banner with mubarak supporters #mubaraktrial
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Our sister channel, Al Jazeera Arabic, reports that the plane carrying Hosni Mubarak has landed at a military base in Cairo.
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Sharif Kouddous, a journalist for Democracy Now at the trial, posted this image of a woman who sarcastically said the rocks being thrown by pro-Mubarak demonstrators at the police academy are the same as those that were thrown during the "Battle of the Camel" on February 2 in Tahrir Square:
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From our sister channel Al Jazeera Mubasher (which has continuous, live coverage of the trial in Arabic), here's a screengrab of police trying to clear out protesters:
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Al Jazeera's Sherien Tadros posted this picture of the fighting outside the police academy:
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Wednesday, 3 August 2011
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