CAIRO (Updated) - The trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak resumed on Monday in the Police Academy in New Cairo, amid tension between the lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defendants, after a court on Thursday cleared several policemen of criminal involvement in the killing of protesters in el-Sayyeda Zeinab, southern Cairo, during the January 25 Revolution. The lawyers for the families of the martyred revolutionaries are worried that Thursday's verdict will pave the way for Mubarak's acquittal. The trial was adjourned last Wednesday until Monday. The adjournment was announced after the Public Prosecution was asked to submit a list of those killed or injured since the beginning of the January revolution, as well as reports and investigations regarding the incidents. Lawyers representing families of those killed in the uprising that ousted Mubarak in February filed a suit calling for presiding judge Ahmed Refaat and the two other judges on the panel to be replaced, but they were unsuccessful. Mubarak, along with former interior minister Habib el-Adli and six of the latter's assistants, will be present in the courtroom, being tried on charges of ordering the killing of protesters in the iconic Tahrir Square during the 18-day Revolution that toppled the president. Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal, who will also be in court, are charged with corruption. Meanwhile one of Mubarak's volunteer lawyers, Youssri Abdel-Karim, said that the recent clashes between troops and protesters in Mohamed Mahmoud Street and the Cabinet Street near Tahrir in central Cairo, leaving tens dead and more than 1,000 injured, may help them prove Mubarak innocent. In commenting on Thursday's verdict, Abdel-Karim said that the policemen were defending themselves. However, another lawyer, Fathi Abul Hassan, said that Mubarak's case is different from that of the policemen who were acquitted last Thursday. In related news, Suzanne Thabet (Mubarak's wife and mother of Alaa and Gamal), Gamal's wife Khadiga el-Gammal and Alaa's wife Heidi Rasekh visited Gamal and Alaa in Tora Prison late on Friday. Suzanne asked her sons to relax, adding that their lawyers said they shouldn't worry. The medical committee, responsible for Mubarak's health, has recommended that the ailing former president should stay at the World Medical Centre near el-Ismailiya as Mubarak can't be transferred to Tora Prison. According to medical reports, Mubarak is suffering from an ageing disease and is on the verge of death, due to the psychological pressure he is under. The former president is also taking drugs that are causing him to suffer from severe hypertension and a low heartrate.
