Former President Hosni Mubarak arrived Tuesday at the Police Academy in the Fifth Settlement, where he is being tried by Cairo Criminal Court for involvement in killing protesters and corruption charges. Farid al-Deeb, Mubarak's lawyer, is expected to begin the deposed leader's defense with a speech about Mubarak's legacy, various news agencies have reported. He will then address the charges against him. Police and military forces have imposed tight security around the court. On 3 January, lead prosecutor Mostafa Suleiman delivered what many believed to be the harshest assessment of the former president ever heard in an Egyptian courtroom. Suleiman accused the 84-year-old Mubarak of tyranny and corruption, saying he had devoted the last 10 years of his three decades in power to ensuring that his son would succeed him. “He deserves to end up with humiliation and indignity, from the presidential palace to the defendant's cage, and then [get] the harshest penalty,” said Suleiman, whose hour-long speech mesmerized the courtroom at the academy, which once bore the former leader's name. Mubarak arrived by helicopter from the International Medical Center off the Cario-Ismailia road. After landing near the court building, he was carried into the courtroom on a gurney. Being tried along with Mubarak are former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six security officials, who also are charged with involvement in killing protesters. Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, and businessman Hussein Salem, who is currently in Spanish custody, also face various corruption charges. The Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Ahmed Refaat, will hear the defense's case until 16 February.
