Cairo: Mubarak trial adjourns for two weeks after first day

Ex-Egyptian president, sons plead not guilty; lawyer for Egyptian victims calls for death penalty; violence breaks out on first day of proceedings.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF
Judge Ahmed Refaat 311 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Egypt TV via Reuters TV)
Judge Ahmed Refaat 311 R
(photo credit: REUTERS/Egypt TV via Reuters TV)
CAIRO - The judge trying Egypt's Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday that the court would reconvene to hear the case of the former president on Aug. 15 and said the fallen leader would be moved from a hospital on the Red Sea to one near Cairo.
Judge Ahmed Refaat also ordered that Mubarak and others involved would be required to attend the next session.
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"The court has decided to resume the case on Aug. 15," the judge said, adding that Mubarak would be held in detention in a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo where he could receive full medical treatment, instead of Sharm e-Sheikh.
Separately, the judge said the court would reconvene for the case of former interior minister Habib Adli on Aug. 4.
The next session of the trial could prove to be just as compelling as the first, as the lawyer representing former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called on Wednesday for the military ruler of Egypt to be summoned as a witness.
Mubarak's lawyer Farid al-Deeb asked to "hear the testimony of Field Marshal (Mohamed Hussein) Tantawi" among a list of more than 1600 people he requested as witnesses, including former and current governors in the region of South Sinai.
He also listed other requests, including asking for a permit to get a specialist doctor to tend to Mubarak who has been hospitalized since April.
Mubarak, sons plead not guilty to all charges
Mubarak denied charges that he was involved in the killing of protesters and other corruption charges in the first day of his trial.
"I entirely deny all those accusations," Mubarak said speaking from the bed where he lay inside a cage for defendants in the Cairo court. His two sons, Gamal and Alaa, both holding copies of the Muslim holy book the Koran, also denied charges.Prosecutor asks for the death penaltyA lawyer acting for families of those killed in Egypt's uprising said former interior minister Habib Adli was ordered by Mubarak to kill demonstrators and demanded execution for the ex-minister.
"He took orders from the ousted president to kill the protesters... We ask for implementation of the top punishment for the accused," the lawyer told the judge when referring to Adli's case.
Adli is being tried alongside Mubarak, his sons and other defendants.
Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East
Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East
Violence erupts outside the trial
Clashes broke out 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."