The Moment<\/a> (London)<\/p>\n28 December 2011<\/p>\n
\nTHE trial of Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak resumed yesterday after a three-month hiatus that saw the ousted strongman’s fate eclipsed by deadly clashes and an Islamist election victory.<\/p>\n
Mubarak risks the death sentence if he is found to have been complicit in the killings of some 850 people who died during protests that overthrew him in February.<\/p>\n
The ailing former president, 83, arrived by ambulance at the Police Academy — which once bore his name — and was wheeled out by stretcher into the courthouse.<\/p>\n
Around 5,000 policemen were deployed to secure the trial at the academy in the outskirts of Cairo, in coordination with the army.<\/p>\n
Mubarak’s two sons Alaa and Gamal, his former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six former security chiefs, defendants in the same case, were also in court.<\/p>\n
Judge Ahmed Refaat heard statements from lawyers for both sides, before adjourning the hearing to January 2, an AFP correspondent said.<\/p>\n
Outside the courthouse, several pro-Mubarak supporters held banners of the former president, while families of the victims that died in protests carried pictures of their deceased relatives.<\/p>\n
‘The trial is a sham and the gang still rules,’ the families chanted.<\/p>\n
AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n
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