CAIRO: The second session of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's murder trial will begin tomorrow morning at the Police Academy in Cairo's Fifth Settlement. The case is tried before the Fifth District Court of North Cairo, headed by Judge Ahmed Refaat. Mubarak, his sons, former Minister of Interior Habib al-Adly, six of al-Adly's assistants, and fugitive businessmen Hussein Salem (tried in absentia) are accused of financial corruption and murdering demonstrators during Egypt's January 25 Revolution, which toppled Mubarak and his regime earlier this year. During the first hearing on August 3, the case was adjourned until August 15 to allow defense lawyers to examine video and photographic records of the prosecution's interrogation of Gamal Mubarak, the ousted president's younger son. The court also ordered that Mubarak be held in the International Medical Centre on the Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road and allowed Dr. Yasser Salah Abdel Kader, a professor of oncology at Cairo University, to follow up on Mubarak's health alongside the center's medical team whenever necessary. The public prosecutor alleged that the first defendant, Mohammed Hosni Mubarak, conspired with Habib al-Adly, the former minister of the interior, and some police officers referred already to the criminal courts in committing murder with malicious intent of demonstrators during the January 25 revolution. Mubarak is also accused of inciting police officers to shoot at protestors with live ammunition and to inflict acts of violence upon them to maintain his grip on power. Prosecutors also charged Mubarak with abusing his power in order acquire real estate for himself and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, (Including a 40 million EGP villa in Egypt's red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh) in return for concessions, including allocating large amounts of prime land in South Sinai and Sharm el-Sheikh to businessman Hussein Salem. The third charge is regarding the agreement to export Egyptian natural gas to Israel at low prices. It is alleged that Mubarak, along with former Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy and some of the leaders of the Ministry of Petroleum (already referred to the Criminal Court), enabled Salem to gain $2 billion illegally. They are also accused of assigning the sale of Egyptian natural gas to the company which Salem represents, raising the value of its shares, and export and transfer of gas to Israel at prices which were significantly below the cost of production and market value, in violation of local and international laws. The agreement has caused damage to state funds to the tune of U.S. $714 million. Salim is also being charged with presenting Mubarak and his sons with four properties in Sharm el-Sheikh in exchange for other concessions, including large tracts of land in Sharm el-Sheikh.
