CAIRO: The first hearing of the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak began at 9:00 this morning. His sons Alaa and Gamal, former Minister of Interior Habib al-Adly, six of al-Adly's assistants, and fugitive businessman Hussein Salem are also defendants in the case. Salem is being tried in absentia. All of them face charges of killing protestors during Egypt's January 25 Revolution and willful damage to public money. The trial is taking place in the lecture hall of the Police Academy in Cairo's Fifth Settlement, lead by the president of North Cairo Court Judge Ahmed Fahmy Refaat. The trial began with the arrival of Mubarak in an ambulance at the Police Academy. Mubarak was transferred from al-Maza military airport and entered the defendants' cage on a hospital bed.
