CAIRO - The trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, his former interior minister Habib el-Adli and six of the latter's assistants resumes on Tuesday, as the lawyers for el-Adli's assistants, including the ex-chief of the Central Security Forces (CSF) Ahmed Ramzi, start their defence. Mubarak and the others are charged with giving orders to kill peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square during the January 25 Revolution. Mubarak, his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, and his fugitive friend Hussein Salem are also charged with corruption in the same case. El-Adli's defence yesterday asked the court to clear him. The court stressed that it gives all parties the chance to have their say. Essam el-Battawi, el-Adli's head lawyer, asked the court to take into consideration his client's long service for his country. “El-Adli, wherever he worked, wanted to ensure the Egyptian people's safety. He didn't break his oath when he was in power. It's unimaginable that he could have betrayed his country,” el-Battawi was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) as saying. He said that all the CSF weapons records confirm that policemen weren't armed when they confronted the protesters and the Prosecution hasn't revealed the names of officers who shot anyone. El-Battawi pointed out that the people who attacked the police stations may have stolen weapons from these stations and may have used them to shoot protesters. He said that the police withdrew individually from the streets, without receiving any orders, so they wouldn't be killed by the furious protesters. The lawyer denied el-Adli participated in the killing of protesters or intentionally committed any mistakes. El-Battawi doubted the veracity of the footage handed over to the Prosecution, claiming that these films have been amended, with things removed or added, to make it look that the police were involved in the premeditated murder and injuring of protesters. He presented some documents, including medical certificates, confirming that hundreds of policemen were injured between January 25 and 31. He also handed over records from the torched police stations and other buildings, including prisons. Mohamed el-Guindi, another lawyer for el-Adli, said that, after the curfew was applied on January 28, 201i, el-Adli was no longer responsible, so it would not be right to quiz him about anything that happened after that date. El-Guindi accused the prosecution of not being neutral, as it hasn't presented eyewitnesses and hasn't released details of the CSF records. El-Adli's lawyers also suspected that the records have been doctored. The lawyers said that el-Adli alone didn't take the decision to cut communications, but it was a collective decision issued by a ministerial meeting, headed by former prime minister Ahmed Nazif. El-Guindi added that US Embassy cars with diplomatic number plates crushed peaceful protesters. He claimed that a third party tried to drive a wedge between protesters and police, stressing that el-Adli's lawyers don't want to defend the mistakes of former regime, but to reveal the truth about who killed the martyrs.
