Cairo: Hosni Mubarak in caged hospital bed as trial begins

Egyptians clash outside trial; trial supporter: "I don't believe this, to see a president on trial, I never imagined it. I'm so happy!"; Mubarak supporter: "We'll demolish the prison if Mubarak is sentenced."

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF
Mubarak trial on tv 311 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)
Mubarak trial on tv 311 R
(photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)
CAIRO - Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was shown wheeled into court in Cairo on Wednesday on a hospital bed with his two sons and other defendants to stand trial for his role in the killing of protesters, state television images showed.
Judge Ahmed Refaat called for quiet in the court during the trial when he entered the court to start the trial. Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dressed in the white outfits worn by those on trial.
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"We ask you to maintain quiet," he said addressing all those attending.
The trial started with the case of the former Egyptian interior minister Habib Adli, whose lawyers began the proceedings by requesting a separate trial from that of Hosni Mubarak and his sons. They then called for the military ruler of Egypt to be summoned as a witness in the trail.
"We ask for the summoning of the national security council, the (former) cabinet and political leaders and we also ask to summon Field Marshal (Mohamed Hussein) Tantawai and General (Omar) Suleiman to speak to them," one of Adli's lawyers said.
Tantawi, who now heads the ruling military council was Mubarak's defense minister for two decades, and Suleiman was Mubarak intelligence chief and appointed vice president in the last days Mubarak was in office.
MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer offered Hosni Mubarak safe haven in Eilat some months ago, the Labor MK told Army Radio in an interview Wednesday morning. He added that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was a party to the offer.
Mubarak, however, "is a patriot and therefore declined the request," Ben-Eliezer said. "I told him that the distance between Sharm e-Shiekh to Eilat is short, and that I knew he is sick."
Speculation had swirled until hours before the start of the trial about whether the 83-year-old, hospitalized in the Red Sea resort since April, would turn up to face charges of conspiring over the killing of demonstrators.
Mubarak's trial is unprecedented. He was forced out of office by his people and is being held to account. Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the first Arab leader to be ousted in the Arab Spring, was tried in absentia and is in Saudi Arabia.
In Cairo, the court, with a cage for defendants, has been set up at the Police Academy, with a screen erected outside the building to show the trial.
Clashes broke out on Wednesday between pro-Mubarak and anti-Mubarak factions watching the televised trial outside the Cairo police academy where it was taking place.
Ahmed Amer, 30, a water company employee watching the proceedings from outside the court said, "I don't believe this ... to see a president being tried ... I never imagined it. I am so happy, I feel tomorrow will be better and that the next president knows what could happen to him if he goes against his people."
Ali Abdullah, a grocery store owner in Sharm e-Sheikh said, "I used to oppose the revolution at first. I criticized the youth in Tahrir and those who protested. But seeing that their efforts have finally brought this pharaoh to court, I must say that I salute the revolution and the youth of Egypt."
Pro-Mubarak protesters outside the court chanted, "Oh Mubarak hold your head high," and, "We will demolish the prison and burn it down, if Hosni Mubarak is sentenced."
Security was tightened in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Police and military officers in riot gear stood there, with dozens of police trucks and a few army armored personnel trucks.
Many Egyptians see his illness as a ploy so ruling generals can avoid publicly humiliating the war veteran and ex-president who ran Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, for 30 years until he was driven out on Feb. 11.
If convicted, Mubarak could face the death penalty. In his only public comments since stepping down, he vowed in April to clear his name and that of his family of accusations of corruption.
"If you feel sympathy for any dictator broken and standing in a cage, remember him when he was unjust on the throne," Marian wrote on Twitter, using the website that became a valuable tool in rallying the masses during the 18-day uprising.
The cage stands in a hall that can seat hundreds of people in the police academy on the outskirts of Cairo, the same location where two days before protests erupted on Jan. 25 Mubarak praised the work of the police in keeping Egypt secure.
Police used live ammunition, rubber bullets and teargas on protesters in Cairo and other cities. In Suez, an effigy of Mubarak hangs from a lamppost near the police station that was gutted by fire during street battles that raged there.
Also standing trial are Mubarak's two sons Gamal, a banker-turned-politician once seen as being groomed for top office, and Alaa, who had business interests. Alongside them is former interior minister Habib al-Adli, one of the most reviled members of Mubarak's cabinet, and six senior officers.
A business executive and Mubarak confidant, Hussein Salem, is being tried in absentia.
Charges range from conspiring in the killing of protesters to abusing power to amass wealth.
Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East
Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East
 Egyptians blame Mubarak for economic policies that they say filled the pockets of the rich while many of the nation's 80 million people scrabbled in squalor to feed their families. They are also angry at his repression of any opposition to his rule.
Yet some are reluctant to see a man who was a bomber pilot and then leader of the air force in the 1973 war with Israel put in the dock.
Activist and director Mohamed Diab wrote on Twitter that the trial was "likely to cause a big rift, just like after his second speech. Imagine Mubarak with white hair, weeping and collapsing in court".
Mubarak, who dyed his hair as he aged in office, had won over some Egyptians with his final speeches that focused on what he described as a lifetime of service. Others were angered by what they saw as his paternalistic and patronizing style.
When the army finally stepped in to take control and he was flown off to internal exile in Sharm e-Sheikh, the streets of the capital and other cities erupted into cheers.