Tweet
Hosni Mubarak must face the death penalty for his alleged part in allowing hundred of protesters to be killed during last year's uprising against his rule, a court heard today.
Prosecutors in the trial of the ousted Egyptian leader also asked the judge to hand the same sentence to Mubarak's security chief and six top police commanders being tried in the same case.
Mustafa Khater, on the third and final day of the prosecution's opening statement, said: 'Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants.'
Sentence: Prosecutors have said Hosni Mubarak, pictured here being wheeled into court, must face the death penalty for his alleged part in allowing hundred of protesters to be killed during last year's uprising against his rule
Protest: Egyptians have been standing outside the Cairo courtroom where Mubarak is being tried to show their anger at the way he allegedly treated his people
Mubarak's two sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and Alaa, face corruption charges in the same trial along with their father and a close family friend who is a fugitive.
An 18-day uprising forced Mubarak, 83, to step down on February 11 after a nearly 30-year rule. The military, led by a general who served as defence minister under Mubarak for 20 years, replaced him in power.
Earlier in today's hearing, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said Mubarak was 'politically and legally' responsible for the killing of the protesters.
He also charged that the former president did nothing to stop the killings that he was aware of from meetings with aides, regional TV channels and reports by his security agencies.
He said Mubarak's security chief and co-defendant, former interior minister Habib el-Adly, authorised the use of live ammunition on orders from Mubarak.
He told the court: 'He (Mubarak) can never, as the top official, claim that he did not know what was going on.
Anger: An Egyptian protester holds a mock-up helicopter, symbolising the one which transports ousted president Hosni Mubarak to the court each day
Transport: Egyptian special forces stand guard as former president Hosni Mubarak, after arriving by helicopter, is moved on a stretcher to the courtroom
'He is responsible for what happened and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened. It is irrational and illogical to assume that he did not know that protesters were being targeted.'
Addressing Mubarak directly, Suleiman said: 'If you had not issued these orders yourself, then where was your outburst of rage over the lives of your people?'
Testimonies by two interior ministers who succeeded el-Adly, he said, pointed out that the defendant could not have given the order to use live ammunition against the protesters without Mubarak's personal approval, said Suleiman.
Suleiman said Mubarak told investigators he decided to step down after the military refused to intervene to 'immediately and urgently' help the security forces contain the protests.
Casual: On trial with Hosni Mubarak are his two sons - Gamal (back), his one-time heir apparent, and Alaa - seen here leaving the courthouse on Tuesday
Mubarak called out the army on January 28 - three days into the uprising and on the day when security forces disappeared from the streets in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.
Suleiman said: 'He (Mubarak) fully knew what was happening but he did nothing.'
Another prosecutor, Wael Hussein, said that one of the six police commanders on trial - former chief of the hated state security agency Hassan Abdel-Rahman - had personally given orders to allow inmates to escape from a string of jails across the nation during the uprising.
The escapees, who numbered in the thousands, have been blamed for a dramatic surge in crime since January 28 last year when almost all vestiges of state authority collapsed.
Most of the inmates have since been captured and returned to jail, but Egypt continues to suffer higher-than-usual crime rates.
Protest: Pro-Mubarak supporters have been gathered outside the Cairo courthouse for several days
Prosecutors in the trial of the ousted Egyptian leader also asked the judge to hand the same sentence to Mubarak's security chief and six top police commanders being tried in the same case.
Mustafa Khater, on the third and final day of the prosecution's opening statement, said: 'Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants.'
Sentence: Prosecutors have said Hosni Mubarak, pictured here being wheeled into court, must face the death penalty for his alleged part in allowing hundred of protesters to be killed during last year's uprising against his rule
Protest: Egyptians have been standing outside the Cairo courtroom where Mubarak is being tried to show their anger at the way he allegedly treated his people
Mubarak's two sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and Alaa, face corruption charges in the same trial along with their father and a close family friend who is a fugitive.
An 18-day uprising forced Mubarak, 83, to step down on February 11 after a nearly 30-year rule. The military, led by a general who served as defence minister under Mubarak for 20 years, replaced him in power.
Earlier in today's hearing, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said Mubarak was 'politically and legally' responsible for the killing of the protesters.
He also charged that the former president did nothing to stop the killings that he was aware of from meetings with aides, regional TV channels and reports by his security agencies.
He said Mubarak's security chief and co-defendant, former interior minister Habib el-Adly, authorised the use of live ammunition on orders from Mubarak.
He told the court: 'He (Mubarak) can never, as the top official, claim that he did not know what was going on.
Anger: An Egyptian protester holds a mock-up helicopter, symbolising the one which transports ousted president Hosni Mubarak to the court each day
Transport: Egyptian special forces stand guard as former president Hosni Mubarak, after arriving by helicopter, is moved on a stretcher to the courtroom
'He is responsible for what happened and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened. It is irrational and illogical to assume that he did not know that protesters were being targeted.'
Addressing Mubarak directly, Suleiman said: 'If you had not issued these orders yourself, then where was your outburst of rage over the lives of your people?'
Testimonies by two interior ministers who succeeded el-Adly, he said, pointed out that the defendant could not have given the order to use live ammunition against the protesters without Mubarak's personal approval, said Suleiman.
Suleiman said Mubarak told investigators he decided to step down after the military refused to intervene to 'immediately and urgently' help the security forces contain the protests.
Casual: On trial with Hosni Mubarak are his two sons - Gamal (back), his one-time heir apparent, and Alaa - seen here leaving the courthouse on Tuesday
Mubarak called out the army on January 28 - three days into the uprising and on the day when security forces disappeared from the streets in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.
Suleiman said: 'He (Mubarak) fully knew what was happening but he did nothing.'
Another prosecutor, Wael Hussein, said that one of the six police commanders on trial - former chief of the hated state security agency Hassan Abdel-Rahman - had personally given orders to allow inmates to escape from a string of jails across the nation during the uprising.
The escapees, who numbered in the thousands, have been blamed for a dramatic surge in crime since January 28 last year when almost all vestiges of state authority collapsed.
Most of the inmates have since been captured and returned to jail, but Egypt continues to suffer higher-than-usual crime rates.
Protest: Pro-Mubarak supporters have been gathered outside the Cairo courthouse for several days
Comment