CAIRO: Families of Egyptians killed in protests that unseated Hosni Mubarak reacted angrily in court yesterday when a judge trying the former president over the deaths barred their lawyers from taking part in the case.
Mubarak, 85, was brought into the caged dock sitting up in a wheelchair, wearing a white gown and sweater and familiar dark aviator glasses. The former air force general appeared alert and in fair health, his hair black and slicked back, his hand on his chin as he listened to the few minutes of procedure. “Present,” he said quietly when his name was called.
While many Egyptians have lost interest in cases brought against their fallen “Pharoah”, relatives of those who died in the crackdown in early 2011 have grown impatient with judges they see as relics of the old regime.
Also present in the dock, facing corruption charges, were Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal. Some of several dozen people present in the Cairo court for the second session of the retrial taunted the defendants before the brief procedural hearing began.
There was an uproar when the presiding judge then ruled that he would not let lawyers for the families — the civil plaintiffs — take part in future sessions. Lawyers for the relatives said they would try to challenge that ruling.
Mubarak and his interior minister, Habib El Adli, were sentenced to life imprisonment last June but an appeals court upheld complaints about the quality of evidence. The retrial began a month ago. A third hearing was scheduled for tomorrow.Reuters
