Hosni Mubarak's trial ended yesterday and a verdict is expected soon. Gamal Essam El-Din reports The former president's "trial of the century" concluded yesterday. Until Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, the court had not yet set a date for the announcement of the verdict. In concluding its case, the prosecution demanded that Hosni Mubarak be held responsible for the deaths of peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square during the 18-day uprising that culminated in his ouster on 11 February, 2011. In closing testimony, Farid El-Deeb, the lawyer defending Mubarak, yesterday provided the court a letter from Mubarak in which the former president said, "If my country has been unjust to me, it will remain dear to me and that its people would remain generous even if they mistreated me." The words were taken from part of a poem by the famed Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawki, dubbed the Prince of Arab Poets, who wrote it when the British occupiers forced him into exile in Spain in the early 20th century. At the beginning of yesterday's trial, Ahmed Rifaat, presiding judge at the trial, asked Mubarak if he had anything to say "because all are equal before the court." Mubarak replied that he had nothing to say and that "it is enough that the court listened to El-Deeb's defence." Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal also declined to speak, saying El-Deeb's defence of them was enough. Mubarak's feared former interior minister Habib El-Adli defended himself for 90 minutes, insisting that the bloody events during the 18-day revolution that brought down Mubarak were orchestrated by a foreign conspiracy. El-Adli quoted Mohamed Abdel-Aziz El-Guindi, the former minister of justice, as saying that "some elements are fomenting a scenario of chaos and subversion in Egypt." El-Adli added, "If some believe that police officers opened fire on protesters, why weren't any of them caught red-handed?" According to El-Adli, "I cannot deny that some officers might have used their personal weapons to defend themselves against outlaws and offenders." El-Adli said that since he came to office in 1997, he had been able to fight religious militancy and drug-traffickers. At the same time, he argued, "I adopted a policy of tolerance against political movements which were mobilised, in the form of street protests, against the so-called 'scenario of succession' and asked for the appointing of a vice-president." He said "imposing security and stability helped Egypt secure high economic growth rates and put an end to religious extremism." On Monday and in concluding its case, the prosecution demanded that Mubarak be held responsible for the deaths of peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square during the 18-day uprising that culminated in his ouster on 11 February, 2011. Mubarak denies all charges. "Even if the defence of the former president, his two sons, and the former interior minister, insists the former president was unaware of the killing he remains responsible by virtue of the Constitution and the law. All of these acts were committed while he was president and they were broadcast on television screens across the world," said prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman. "Mubarak kept silent while he was watching the murders on television yet as president he was responsible for protecting Egyptian citizens. He didn't shoulder his duty to stop the bloodshed and end acts of violence against the Egyptian people." Mubarak's defence team was scheduled to address the court yesterday. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for Mubarak. The prosecution in the case refutes defence claims that the Lebanese Shia group Hizbollah and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas orchestrated the killing of protestors and thet they exploited the unrest to storm prisons and release detainees. "The defence," said Soliman, "at times tried to blame Israel for the deaths. At others it blamed different foreign elements, and then accused guards at the American University in Cairo of shooting the demonstrators. Their flailing around for scapegoats bears no relation to the truth." "One of the main causes of the revolution was Mubarak's determination he be succeeded by his son. The people objected to this and took to the streets to prevent it happening," Suleiman told the court. He rejected claims by Mubarak's lawyer Farid El-Deeb that in the absence of a letter of resignation signed by Mubarak his client remained president of Egypt and could therefore be tried only by a military court. "Mubarak is no longer president of Egypt. He was expelled from office by the Egyptian people and there is no legitimacy to claims he retains the post." The trial of Mubarak, which began on 3 August, 2011 was halted for two months on 24 September when lawyers representing the families of murdered protestors petitioned to have judge Ahmed Rifaat replaced for showing bias to the defendants. The request was rejected and the trial resumed on 28 December. On Tuesday the Administrative Court also rejected a petition filed by a group of lawyers attempting to force Ahmed Rifaat to retire on the grounds that he was unfit to serve as a judge. The court ruled that only the minister of justice could decide. Meanwhile, the People's Assembly has announced it will send the report prepared by its Health Committee to Prosecutor-General Mahmoud Abdel-Meguid, informing him that the Torah prison hospital in South Cairo was now fully equipped to receive Mubarak. According to parliamentary speaker Saad El-Katatni "the Assembly respects the independence of the judiciary and therefore decided to send a report outlining the findings of a visit by the Health Committee to Torah Prison to the prosecutor-general who could then forward it to the criminal court in charge of trying Mubarak". "We want the judges to know that Torah prison is now fully equipped to receive Mubarak." The committee has accused former interior minister Mansour El-Eissawi of failing to ensure the hospital of Torah could receive Mubarak. "This represents clear negligence and conspiracy... he refused to implement a medical report of April 2011 to the effect the hospital could be ready to receive patients in a critical condition -- notably Mubarak -- within one month," said the report.
