The decision to place ousted president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons and business magnate Hussein Salem on trial on 3 August leaves many questions unanswered, Gamal Essam El-Din reports On 2 June El-Sayed Abdel-Aziz Omar, the chairman of the Cairo Appeals Court, ordered deposed president Hosni Mubarak to stand trial before North Cairo Criminal Court. The court hearings -- of Mubarak, his two sons Alaa and Gamal and the former president's business associate Hussein Salem -- will begin on 3 August. Normally all the defendants should appear in court for at least the first hearing. The judicial order, however, came a day after an official medical committee had concluded that Mubarak was too sick to be transferred from Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital, where he has been receiving medical treatment since 13 April. Mubarak's lawyer, Farid El-Deeb, told CNN that Egypt's former strongman "cannot go to the bathroom without assistance". Press reports have appeared suggesting that Mubarak is barely able to speak, and can no longer remember names or dates. Security sources also suggested that it would not be possible for Mubarak to stand trial in Cairo because of the danger of public unrest. Yet a day after the Cairo Appeals Court ruling Interior Minister Mansour El-Eissawi issued a statement saying "security forces are ready and able of transferring Mubarak from Sharm El-Sheikh to Cairo". "The public wants only to see a fast and fair trial of Mubarak. The security forces are ready to implement prosecution and judicial orders," said El-Eissawi. "If we are ordered to move Mubarak to Cairo we will do it." El-Eissawi added that, "right now the Interior Ministry is implementing the prosecutor- general's order that the hospital of Tora prison be equipped to receive Mubarak, although this will take time, effort and a lot of money." Such contradictory statements, some commentators accuse, reflect a deliberate attempt by government officials to spread confusion. "Statements keep being issued yet the public remains in the dark. There are no firm details about Mubarak's trial, nor about the state of his health," says Gamal Zahran, a professor of political science at Suez Canal University. "Some even question whether Mubarak really is in Sharm El-Sheikh. Not one photograph has been released of him inside the hospital." Members of the Lawyers Syndicate Committee of Freedoms have lodged a request with Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud for a delegation from the syndicate to visit Sharm El-Sheikh Hospital and confirm Mubarak is being held there. Minister of Justice Mohamed Abdel-Aziz El-Guindi says the decision to try Mubarak before the North Cairo Criminal Court was based on the former president's place of residence. "Mubarak lived in Heliopolis, a district covered by North Cairo Criminal Court," said El-Guindi. "Court hearings can, however, be held at Sharm El-Sheikh hospital should security conditions make it dangerous for the trial to be held in Cairo or Mubarak's health not allow for his transfer. In such cases judges are free to submit a memorandum to the justice minister requesting that the trial be held in Sharm El-Sheikh." "The most important issue," El-Guindi continued, "is that Mubarak faces a fair trial." Other senior officials from Mubarak's regime, including former interior minister Habib El-Adli who, like Mubarak, is accused of ordering the police to open fire on protesters in Tahrir Square and illegal profiteering, are being tried by the South Cairo Criminal Court, raising questions as to why the Mubarak trial is being held elsewhere. Zahran also wonders at the date of the trial, 3 August, which will be the second day of Ramadan. "Not only do we have to wait two months for the trial to officially begin, when it does we will have to wait another month and a half for proceedings to progress in earnest," complains Zahran. "It is clear that everything has been arranged so as not to expose Mubarak, or his trial, to public scrutiny."
