Reem Leila reports on the unseemly squabbles surrounding the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak Judge Ahmed Rifaat, head of the Court of Cassation and the judge presiding over the trial of Hosni Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, former interior minister Habib El-Adli and six senior security officials, agreed on 14 August to admit lawyers representing the families of protesters killed by security officials during the 25 January Revolution. When Mubarak's trial opened on 3 August 28 lawyers representing the families of victims were denied admission to the court. On 10 August a group of them threatened to refer the case of the ousted president to an international tribunal if the court continued to deny admission. Plaintiffs' lawyers say they were told they could not be issued with permits to attend the trial because they had failed to attach a photocopy of their national ID with the application request. Lawyer Ayman Hafez, representing the family of Mohamed Metwalli Awad, criticised both the procedure for issuing permits and the interference of the police in the process. "The procedures are extremely humiliating. We have to collect our permits from security officers at the court. We want permits to be issued directly by the Court of Cassation. We sent a written request to Judge Rifaat who finally allowed all plaintiffs' representatives to attend the trial." Tarek Zaghloul, director of the Egyptian Organisation of Human Rights (EOHR), has criticised the absence of any coordination between plaintiffs' lawyers. EOHR lawyers are representing 23 of the martyrs' families. "We have formed a committee to coordinate our position," says Zaghloul. "We put an advertisement on our site inviting all lawyers representing martyrs' families to join the committee but received no response." Both Zaghloul and Hafez are exasperated by the behaviour of lawyers who seem determined to use the occasion for grandstanding in front of the television cameras rather than promoting their clients' interests. "What these people are doing is wasting time," says Zaghloul. "The judge was forced to suspend the session four times on 15 August due to the lack of coordination between lawyers and finally adjourned the session for more than 20 days." The postponement, Zaghloul argues, has a positive side. It will allow lawyers to study the more than 9,000 pages of evidence relating to the case. "The lack of coordination has prevented the court from holding daily session as was originally intended," Rifaat told the families' lawyers. "You have rights, and so do the defendants' lawyers. Please organise yourselves so justice can be served." Rifaat noted that he had received more than 100 separate requests to address the court. He then adjourned the case until 5 September, announcing that future sessions would not be broadcast. Mubarak and El-Adli have been charged with ordering security forces to open fire on unarmed protesters, killing more than 800.
