CAIRO - Lying on a stretcher, looking feeble with his pale, wrinkled face and sunken, perplexed eyes, the way Mubarak looked in the cage has divided Egyptians from different social and intellectual backgrounds over the former president's trial. August 3 saw the first session of Mubarak's trial, leaving Egyptians with different opinions. "I don't have the least sympathy for him, when I think of those young martyrs killed in cold blood. All they wanted was a decent and dignified life," says Layla Mohamed, a lawyer. "Seeing him tried has warmed my heart as it proves to me that nobody is above the law.” The public trial of Mubarak and his corrupt officials was among the demands of revolutionaries who held a sit-in for three weeks, also calling for the forming of a revolutionary government and an end to civilians being tried in military courts. Because of the constant pressure, the ruling Military Council has allowed State TV to broadcast the trial live. Unlike Layla, many Egyptians were infuriated to see the former president in the cage and looking so sick. Their fury was unleashed outside the Police Academy headquarters on August 3, where the trial took place. They started quarrelling with those in favour of Mubarak being tried and they ended up pelting each others with stones. The Army and Police managed to restore order. "My heart was broken to see the former president lying on a stretcher in the cage," Israa Shawqi, a 25-year-old graduate, says. "This shouldn't have happened; he doesn't deserve to be treated like this after working so hard for his country for 60 years.” Unlike Israa, Ahmed Sherif, a 20-year-old engineering student, is happy that Mubarak is being tried, because he was so corrupt. On August 3, Mubarak's trial started, on charges of graft and killing protesters to quell a revolution, which forced him to step down on February 11. His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also in the cage with thim, as were former interior minister, Habib el-Adli, and six of his deputies. Before he stepped down in February, supporters of the former president created a page on the social networking site Facebook, called ‘We are Sorry President'. On another Facebook page, the ‘Wrath Revolution of Mubarak's Sons', they pledged after the opening session of his trial to get as much support as possible from different countries to stop his trial, that resumes on August 15. "We have to think logically," explains Sarah Sameer, a housewife. "Mubarak is like any other defendant; he should be tried fairly, but his old age and ill health condition should not be a pretext for him to go unpunished.”
