Faisal al-Otaibi, Chairman of the Kuwaiti Legal Defense team that volunteered to defend former President Hosni Mubarak, said in a special statement to Youm7 that he respects the 20 Kuwaiti lawyers that are representing the families of martyrs saying that it is the right of every person to volunteer to represent the families of the martyrs. Otaibi added, “I went to pay my respects to the martyrs' families, and I am defending Mubarak as a human being, not in his capacity as former president. I consider it a way of paying him back for standing by Kuwait's side during the Gulf war when Iraq invaded the country." Concerning the anger of a number of Kuwaiti citizens who condemned him for volunteering to defend Mubarak, Otaibi said that there are Kuwaitis who sympathize with the former President, and some who sympathized with the martyrs. Otaibi stressed that he respected the view of everyone. Regarding the case filed against him for saying that Mubarak is the legitimate president of Egypt, Otaibi said, "That is my personal opinion and not an official statement. I said that because Mubarak gave up managing the affairs of the country voluntarily and was not forced out. Also to his credit, he did not wage war against his own unlike Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Bashar al-Assad in Syria, both of whom have caused heinous massacres, whereas he withdrew from power without any bloodshed."
