Court resumes defense sessions of Mubarak’s trial

Judge Ahmed Refaat head of Cairo Criminal Court and Mubarak's lawyer Farid el-Deeb Cairo – Akram Ali Cairo criminal Court resumes the trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his sons Gamal and Alaa, former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli, and 6 of his top aides, on charges of killing demonstrators and wasting public money. The trial, headed by Judge Ahmed Refaat, resumes its defense sessions for the fourth day.
The last session, Thursday, heard Faird el-Deeb, Mubarak’s lawyer, defend his client from the charges by holding the army fully responsible for incidents that took place starting from January 28 2011.
El-Deeb accused the armed forces of being in charge since the specified date, hence, held them accountable for the killing of more than 800 protesters and the injury of at least 6000 others. He argued that the armed forces were officially in charge of the security of the country since the announcement of the curfew on Jan 28.
El-Deeb continued saying Mubarak is entitled to rejoining the armed forces following his stepping down of presidency, with accordance to a law issued during late president Anwar Sadat’s rule.
“General Mohamed Hosni Mubarak is still Commander of the Air Forces by [provisions of] the military law,” el-Deeb added.
Al-Deeb indicated that Mubarak “should not be tried” for graft before civil court, as the military court should be in charge of such matter, thus considering general prosecution investigations of financial corruption “invalid”.
A legal expert told ‘Arabstoday’, on conditions of anonymity, that al-Deeb’s inference to the military judiciary, which was amended May 2011, is not applicable in trying Mubarak for financial corruption, even if Mubarak is to keep his military position as a General in the armed forces.
He elaborated saying that the law el-Deeb refers to is used in case of financial corruption while in the military service, or if the armed forces are involved in the illegal financial gain, however, he stated that the current charges of financial corruption are addressed to Mubarak as president during his reign, not as a military figure.
In a relevant context, through following up with the case, constitutional expert Mohamed Nour Farahat expects Mubarak to be acquitted of the charges of killing protesters in the January 25 revolution, however, expects him to be convicted for graft, corruption, and abuse of power in the deal of gas export to Israel.