CAIRO: A court ruling against former Egyptian Minister of Interior Habib al-Adly will be issued May 5, announced the Giza Criminal Court on Monday. Al-Adly is being tried for money laundering and embezzlement in addition to criminal charges of killing protesters during the January 25 Revolution which led to the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak. Lawyer Essam el-Battawi, part of al-Adly's defense team, stressed to the court on Monday that al-Adly kept Egypt safe for 14 years of his tenure as Minister of Interior. The trial of Egypt's former Minister of Interior 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. BM
