Judge Mahmoud Kamel Al-Rashidi is scheduled to deliver a verdict on Saturday in the trial of Hosni Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, businessman Hussein Salem, former interior minister Habib Al-Adli and six of Adli's assistants. What was once billed as the trial of the century has turned into a damp squib. Mubarak's legal ordeal began in August 2011. Many flocked to the Police Academy in east Cairo, where the trial was held, to chant slogans against the former dictator. Millions of Egyptians gathered in front of their televisions to watch the former president in court. In June 2012 Mubarak and Al-Adli were found guilty of failing to prevent the killing of peaceful protesters during the uprising that led to Mubarak's removal and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the time, many of Mubarak's secular foes, and the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the sentence as inappropriate. They had expected Mubarak to be executed. In January 2013 the conviction was overturned on appeal and a retrial of Mubarak and other defendants ordered. Last month Al-Rashidi allowed Mubarak and his co-defendants to address the court to defend themselves. Al-Adli took the floor twice. Over six hours the former interior minister not only denied that he had played any role in the murder of hundreds of peaceful protestor but defended the brutal policies adopted against critics of the Mubarak regime. Mubarak faces charges of complicity in the murder of peaceful pro-democracy protesters opposed to his rule, abuse of power for personal gain and profiteering by aiding businessman Hussein Salem to monopolise gas sales to Israel. In 2012 the court concluded that although testimonies and documents failed to prove Mubarak had ordered either the police or army to fire on protesters he was culpable for failing to take any action to halt the slaughter. The court did not deliver a verdict on the graft charges which dated back to 1994. When Mubarak's retrial opened in April 2013 the court imposed a blanket ban on media coverage. Yet in the final stages, beginning early August, Al-Rashidi not only allowed the defendants the floor to defend themselves and justify their policies under the Mubarak regime, but allowed private television channels owned by businessmen who were leading officials of Mubarak's now-defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to air the final court sessions live. In one session, Al-Rashidi wept when Adly Fayed, former director of public security, told how “security forces were severely beaten by protesters.” Mubarak and other defendants seized the opportunity to claim that the overthrow of the regime was a foreign conspiracy led by Washington. Al-Adli and Hassan Abdel-Rahman, onetime director of the State Security Apparatus, accused the CIA of recruiting young activists to mobilise the revolt against Mubarak. Alaa and Gamal Mubarak both refused to take the floor though the latter submitted a memorandum in which he denied that he had ever been groomed to inherit power from his father. Mahmoud Kibiesh, head of Cairo University's Faculty of Law, says, “The fact that the 2012 life imprisonment ruling against Mubarak was overturned means that the new verdict is expected to not be as tough. “The Saturday verdict can be described as semi-final,” says Kibiesh. “Both the defendants and the prosecution have the right to contest the second verdict if the appeal if accepted by the Court of Cassation.” Kibiesh does not agree that judges showed sympathy with the defendants by allowing them to address the court directly. “The law authorises the presiding judge to allow defendants take the floor and defend themselves. What is essential to judges is whether or not the testimonies and documents offered during the case are in favour of the defence or the prosecution,” he said. Most testimonies favoured Mubarak, with no witnesses claiming to have heard him give an order for protesters to be killed. Mohamed Farid Al-Tohami, current director of General Intelligence, joined the chorus of former military and police officials accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of masterminding the shooting of protesters in Tahrir Square, storming prisons and spreading chaos during the 2011 uprising. Political analyst Abu Taleb says it is inevitable that the verdict will be politicised. “If Mubarak is acquitted, youth revolutionary movements and the Muslim Brotherhood will see the verdict as confirming their belief that the judiciary is upholding the intersts of the old guard at the expense of fairness or justice,” says Taleb. “His acquittal will also embolden regime remnants and diehards to up their attacks against the 25 January revolution, repeating the charge that it was a conspiracy led by the US. If the court finds Mubarak guilty and sentences him to just few years in jail — rather than life imprisonment — Mubarak-era leftovers will accuse the judges of bowing to political expediency rather than being neutral. “Whatever the sentence is,” adds Taleb, “it will not trigger a response on the street. The public paid little if any attention to the broadcast sessions and the defendants' attacks against the 25 January uprising. Most high-profile anti-Mubarak opponents, whether secular or Islamist, are in jail or facing trial and the country is in the middle of a war against terrorism. There is no one to lead an angry response.”
