CAIRO: Despite official assurances that Hosni Mubarak will be in the defendant's cage on Wednesday for his murder trial, few Egyptians cannot imagine seeing the ousted strongman in a courtroom. Even a day before Mubarak is set to stand trial for murder along with his two sons and cronies in Cairo, there is disbelief that Egypt's ruler for three decades will be present. Mubarak, 83, is under arrest in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he receives treatment for a heart condition. So far he has successfully avoided transfer to Cairo — where his sons and other co-defendants are imprisoned — because of his health. His lawyer, Fareed Al-Deeb, has told reporters in recent weeks that Mubarak suffered cancer and was in a coma but the hospital treating him has denied the claim. But it appeared to confirm his defense's strategy, which was to argue that the ex-president was too sick to attend the trial, and to strengthen fears that Mubarak would successfully delay the proceedings. In the past few days, after the justice ministry said the trial would be held in Cairo, the interior and health ministers both said they were preparing to make sure that Mubarak will be present in the courtroom. Television footage showed Interior Minister Mansur Essawy touring the courtroom where the former president will be tried. Snippets of procedural information have been published in the press, apparently to indicate that things are moving along. Essawy told the independent Al-Masry Al-Yom newspaper that "we will transport (Mubarak) in a military plane to his trial location." "We do not want to see tension among the people in the street because of Mubarak's absence," he added. But on the street, few believe that the once all-powerful Mubarak, who ruled the country for 30 years with an iron fist, would actually appear in court. "It's just too hard to imagine. When I was born, Mubarak was in power, to see him in a dock is unbelievable," said Karim Sherif, 23. "It's a very strong image, to see the man who was everything come to this. I just don't believe he will appear tomorrow. They will make up an excuse at the last minute," said Hoda Mohammed, 30. Mubarak's trial is one of the key demands of increasingly critical activists who believe that the ruling military, which is led by Mubarak appointees, would not sign off on having its former commander in chief in the dock. According to press reports, more than 1,000 security personnel will be deployed around the Cairo Police Academy in what one official described as an "unprecedented" operation. The health minister has said that Mubarak was fit enough to stand trial and his ministry would help in transferring him to court. But the ultimate decision might go to the doctors treating him, who say he is "relatively stable" but extremely depressed and weak after refusing to take food.
