Mubarak trial to recommence on Thursday

Prosecution expected to present more evidence of involvement in protester deaths, including video footage and police confessions

Presiding Judge Ahmed Refaat has adjourned the ongoing trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to Thursday, 5 January, when prosecutors will attempt to prove Mubarak's direct involvement in the killing of unarmed protesters in the early days of last year's revolution.
Prosecutors are expected to present more evidence on Thursday, including video footage and confessions by policemen. The prosecution has accused Egyptian security apparatuses, including the interior ministry, of deliberately hindering investigations.
The prosecution has also stated that, while it had not yet determined the primary culprits, the trial defendants were nevertheless responsible for inciting the primary culprits – whoever they were – to open fire on unarmed protesters. Nor did the defendants attempt to stop the primary culprits from killing protesters, the prosecution has asserted.
In Egyptian law, incitement to murder is a capital offense.
Mubarak was late in arriving to the court on Wednesday, ostensibly due to bad weather conditions. He was transferred by helicopter from the International Medical Centre on the Ismailia-Cairo highway to a police academy in the capital, where the trial is being conducted.
Some of the plaintiffs in the case, meanwhile, have repeatedly requested that General Sami Anan – number-two in Egypt's ruling military council – be included among the witnesses.
Mubarak is being prosecuted, along with former interior minister Habib El-Adly and six of the latter's assistants, for opening fire on peaceful demonstrators in public squares throughout the country. He also faces a host of corruption charges, along with his two sons – Gamal and Alaa – and runaway business tycoon Hussein Salem.