CAIRO: The trial of Egypt's former Minister of Interior, Habib al-Adly, and a number of his assistants, including the former head of the dissolved State Security Intelligence, will start on April 24, judicial sources said on Tuesday. Local newspapers reported that the trial will take place at the Cairo Criminal Court, to be chaired by Judge Adel Abdel Salam Goma`a, and that the Minister will be tried on charges of killing and intimidating peaceful protestors, causing damages to public and private establishments, causing a security vacuum, and intimidating citizens following the withdrawal of police forces from the streets on January 28. The Public Prosecutor referred al-Adly and his assistants to the criminal court on March 24 and charged them with killing protestors during Egypt's January 25 Revolution. Al-Adly denied issuing orders to use live ammunition against the protesters while his assistants insist he gave them these orders. According to the accusations, the police were directed by the Minister to use lethal force, live ammunition and to kill protesters in order to end demonstrations and scare protestors in the governorates of Cairo, Suez, Alexandria, Beheira, Gharbiya, Qalyoubiya, Daqahliya, Sharqiya, Damietta and Beni Suef. The assistants include Ahmed Abdelrashid, first deputy of central security, Adly Fayed, first deputy of general security, Hassan Abdeldrahman, first deputy of state security minister, Ismail El-Shaer, first deputy of minister of interior, and Osama El-Marasy, former head of Giza security. BM
