CAIRO - As Egypt's former, ailing president Hosni Mubarak showed up for the first session of his trial on a stretcher on Wednesday, world reactions ranged from sympathy and calls for fairness to optimism in the future of the Arab world. The US, Mubarak's ally for many years, expressed confidence that the trial will be fair and transparent, stressing that it's an Egyptian matter. "We'll obviously follow the trial closely. It's very important that it be a transparent and fair process and we have confidence that they can do that," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington. Mubarak, overthrown in February amid a pro-democracy uprising, went on trial on Wednesday on murder charges, the first Arab ruler to appear in court in person at a historic moment for a region whose leaders are rarely held to account. "We believe that Egyptian authorities are able to carry out a fair trial in this case. And it's really ultimately up to them to do so," Toner said. The former president, looking pale and dressed in white, pleaded not guilty, as he lay on a stretcher in a metal-barred cage, to charges of the premeditated murder of protesters who took to the streets to topple his regime. His lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, will argue that Mubarak, 83, is too sick to stand trial and that he did not sanction the brutal crackdown on protesters that left more than 850 people dead by the time he resigned on February 11. However, the Saudi Arabia Ambassador in Egypt told the privately owned satellite channel Al-Hayat that his country was not bothered by Mubarak's trial, denying the Kingdom had demanded an amnesty for him. Ambassador Ahmed Qattan denied rumours that his Government planned to use layoffs of Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia as leverage against Mubarak's conviction. The Kingdom will continue to seek stability in Egypt, he said, as this will mean more stability for Saudi Arabia as well. He added that the "Arab world without Egypt would be like a ship without a captain". But an adviser to Saudi Arabia's Government dismissed the trial as a masquerade, saying: "This is a humiliating spectacle for everyone”. Israel, a country with which the ousted president kept peace for 30 years, denied that one of its key politicians had offered Mubarak sanctuary in the Israeli Red Sea port city of Eilat. Lawmaker Benjamin Ben Eliezer said Tel Aviv proposed Mubarak seek asylum in Eilat, on Israel's border with Egypt's Sinai Desert. "I met him in Sharm el-Sheikh and told him that the distance is very short, and perhaps this would be a good time for him to recuperate," Ben Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio. "I am sure Israel would have accepted him, but he refused," he was quoted as saying by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday. However, Netanyahu's aide Roni Sofer denies that the Prime Minister has ever offered Mubarak asylum. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss praised the Egyptians, saying the trial of Mubarak would have a significant ripple effect across the Arab world. “The prosecution of [Mubarak] will have a significant effect on everyday life in the Arab world,” Hoss said in a statement, adding that “this event may not be an isolated case and will be repeated across the Middle East". He also urged Egyptian officials to ensure that Mubarak's trial be very responsible, just and objective, so it can serve as model for different parts of the Arab world.
