CAIRO: The “peaceful” and “righteous” protests by Egyptian youth for economic and political reform were “swallowed” by Hezbollah fighters who had infiltrated the country and cooperated with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and US-trained Egyptian elements, lawyer of ousted president Hosni Mubarak told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper. In an interview published Thursday lawyer Farid El-Deeb made many unsubstantiated claims. He cited testimony from Egypt's former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and argued that “armed elements of Hezbollah infiltrated Egypt in the beginning of the revolution and met with members of the Muslim Brotherhood.” According to El-Deeb, Hezbollah and the MB worked together to burn and destroy police stations, steal their weapons, and unleash 30,000 dangerous prisoners, in an effort to spread “chaos and panic amongst the people.” He went on to claim that the Hezbollah members also cooperated with Egyptian elements who were trained in the US and Serbia “under the umbrella of working for human rights organizations.” According to El-Deeb, the protests that took place on Jan. 25-27 were peaceful, and there were “no victims or clashes between security forces and the people.” However, as protesters began to leave on the Jan. 28, the foreign groups infiltrated and stoked the violence. At this point, he explained, the protests turn deadly when the previously looted weapons, alongside arms not found in Egypt, were used to fire on protestors. “The evidence says that the martyrs of the revolution were shot by the very weapons that the people themselves were firing in the square. Some of these weapons are not even found in Egypt,” El-Deeb said in the interview. He also came to the defense of another of his clients, former interior minister Habib El- Adly, who is being charged with ordering the killing of the protestors. El-Deeb claimed that El-Adly directly ordered the head of the central security forces not to use live rounds. The lawyer explained that if an order to use live ammunition was actually given, upwards of “200,000 to 300,000 protestors would have died.” “El-Adly did not open one round of live fire on them,” he professed, explaining instead that he “tried to disperse the riots peacefully.” On April 19, an official fact-finding found that at least 846 were killed and 6,467 injured during the 18-day uprising, which brought an end to Mubarak's rule. On the night of Jan. 28, the police force was ordered to retreat and it was widely believed that the interior ministry itself had ordered the release of thousands of prisoners to spread fear and wreak havoc in the absence of security. During the interview, El-Deeb also challenged the popularly held belief that Mubarak was grooming his son Gamal to assume the presidency. “Mubarak told me he didn't want Gamal to be president of Egypt. Gamal himself wasn't even thinking about this either,” he said. Instead, El-Deeb explained that those “around Mubarak and Gamal who wanted to benefit from them as much as they could” started this “rumor.” Speaking on accusations of corruption against Mubarak, El-Deeb reiterated his previous statements that the ousted president has no more than $1 million to his name. “I challenge any person in Egypt or in the world to bring to me a piece of paper that shows that Mubarak owns a single dollar or property outside of Egypt. All that he has is LE 6 million in a branch of Ahly Bank, which are his savings from 62 years of work,” he said in the interview. El-Deeb also said Mubarak told him he is refraining from coming forward and defending himself “in order to preserve national security.” Mubarak, who is scheduled to stand trial before a criminal court on Aug. 3, is being charged with the premeditated murder of peaceful protesters, corruption and embezzlement. His two sons Gamal and Alaa face similar economic and corruption charges, while former Interior Minister El-Adly faces charges of ordering the killing of peaceful protestors. Asked whether he believes in the innocence of the Mubaraks and El-Adly, El-Deeb said that he is “convinced” they are innocent.”
