Chaos reigns at Egypt's former minister of interior El-Adly's fourth trial session

As the trial of Habib El-Adly, who stands accused of killing protesters, is postponed for the fourth time, those in attendance voice their exasperation

At 7am on Monday 25 July,a long line of policemen and army soldiers and their armoured vehicles stood in front of the northern court at Cairo's fifth settlement, ahead of the forth session of the trial of former minister of interior Habib El-Adly.It wasan intimidating scene hardly witnessed even during the 25 January revolution.
It seemed every typeof security uniform waspresent, from the plain blackof central security forces to the rearly seen green of special forces. The seemingly endless lines of policemen and police trucks kept increasing, for no apparent reason. However the martyrs' famiies and activist turnoutwas much smaller than previous sessions of the trial.
Around ten protesters, mainly from the Kefaya movement, chanted anti-police slogans before the trial started. Among them was Mohammed Abdel Fatah, who lost his nine-year-old son Hassan on 29 January when policemen randomly shot at them while they were going home to the 6th of October city in a taxi.
By the time a hospital finally allowed the boyin, he had already died in his father's arms."They refused to save his life and when he died thy refused to issue me a medical report saying my son was shot,"says a crying Abdel Fatah,holdinghis son's blood-coveredshirt, "Injustuce still prevails; his killers havenot been tried yet."
A few steps from Abdel Fatah, journalists lined up to get inside the courthouse. After three hours of waiting and getting squashed against each other, they were finally filed into the courtroom like sardines in acan, only to findEgyptian TV and other media outletcommunicating a confirmed announcement that the case will beadjourned. This occurredbefore a judge had even appeared in the courtroom.
An hour later, thefivesuspects were led to thecage, including El-Adly, and thetrial began.It was a surreal moment. "Can you see him?Is that really him?" a man asked his friend. "Yes that's him in blue," his friend replied, in as much disbelief.No one in attendance could believe they were finally seeing the former interior minister in acage.After thebrief silence and hesitation, people moved to takea closer look or try to take a souvenir photo.
When judge Abdel Salam Gomaaadjourned the court,the angry crowd objected, twice.First when he announced that the case will be joined with that of former president Hosni Mubarak;The crowd corrected him, shouting: "Ousted not 'former'." When he announced the date of the next session,3 August, people screamed: "Not fair." Others continued to call out:"God is great."
One attendee injured during the revolution was infurated, approached El- Adlyand spat on him.Policemen gathered around him and beaten him roughly until he was red and swollen. He was thrown outside courtroom.
"He has every right to be angry and dissapointed. Even though it makes sense legally tocombine the cases of El-Adly and Mubarak, it should have been done in the first session.Why wait till the fourth? All these postponements add to the feeling of injustice and loss of trust in judiciary system," says human rights lawyer and monitor Maha Youssef, who also present at the courthouse.
Outside the courthouse, the crowd was getting bigger, with people chanted "Kosa, kosa"(zuchini), theEgyptian expression for corruption and injustice.
Among thosedispleasedwith the court ruling are the dozens of injured during the revolution. Mustafa Tawfiq, 55, attending Adly's trial for the first time,was shot in the head and knee on 29 January near the interior ministry as he was transfering medical supplies to the injured in Tahrir square.
"This is not a trial, this is not fair. Seven months is a long time. Where is thejustice? This is a scam," says Tawfiq, who has been chasing down paper work to prove his injury and filea lawsuit against El-Adly. for Tawfiq, Abdel Fatah and many present at thecourthouse, the only justverdict would be thedeath sentence.
According to Nader Hashem, one of the suspects' lawyers, this won't be a fair trial.He describes thetrialas farcial andsays that, in this case, the crowd won't accept thatthe defendant is innocent untilproven guilty. "Here it is the opposite, he is guilty even if he is proved innocent," says Hashem, struggling to get inside the courtroom.
Fatemah Mahrousa, the lawyer of other defendants,was upset at the chaos and continued postponement."It's illegally and wrong for lawyers and the TV to announce the ruling before the judge does. We respect the judge's verdict, but we are all dissapointed with the continoius delays."
Where the next session will be held has not yet beenannounced. Although many agree that the decision to combine El-Adly and Mubarak's cases may be alogical andpositive one, it has much of its forceamid the continous adjournments, which manybelieve isjustice delayed