Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak returns to court for Violent clashes

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak gestures in this video images as he lies on a bed within a cage at the court building in Cairo on Monday as his trial on charges of corruption and complicity in killing protesters during Egypt's uprising continued. (Egyptian State TV/Associated Press)

The judge in the trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who is accused of corruption and complicity in the killing of protesters during the uprising against him, has decided to stop live TV broadcasts of the proceedings, which have been adjourned until Sept. 5.

Judge Ahmed Rifaat adjourned the trial after wrapping up Monday's proceedings. Earlier, Mubarak arrived on a stretcher at the Cairo courtroom. His older son, Alaa, covered a state TV camera as it filmed his father, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, being wheeled out of the ambulance and into the trial venue.State TV cameras had been allowed in the courtroom for the first two hearings, but Rifaat said he decided to ban them before summoning witnesses."It is in protection of the general interest," Rifaat said."This decision pleases most of the lawyers who are really working on the case, not those who want the TV appearance," said Gamal Eid, who represents a number of families of slain protesters and watched Monday's hearing from his office."This will give us the right to some calm and concentration and turns it again into a legal case, not a show."Alaa Mubarak, the former president's other son, Gamal, former interior minister Habib el-Adly and six top security officials are also on trial.Brief scuffles between Mubarak supporters and opponents broke out outside the trial venue inside a Cairo police academy.The first day of the trial, which also saw clashes between the two sides, was taken up by procedural moves."Yes, I am here; I deny all these accusations completely," Mubarak said into a microphone. As it was Monday, the bed was placed inside a cage of mesh and iron bars, an effort to separate him from relatives of some of the 850 protesters killed in the uprising earlier this year.

About 600 people attended that first court appearance.Victims' relatives jockey for seats On Monday, victims' relatives could be heard arguing over where they would sit, to which presiding Judge Ahmed Rifaat told their lawyers, "The case needs effort, not protests or talking."The family lawyers asked to separate the corruption charges and the killing of the protesters so the trial wouldn't be delayed.The prosecution of the former president is unprecedented in the Arab world, the first time a modern Mideast leader has been put on trial fully by his own people.The closest event to it was former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's trial, but his capture came at the hands of U.S. troops in 2003 and his special tribunal was set up with extensive consultation with American officials and international experts.

Alaa Mubarak, left, and Gamal Mubarak, sons of Egypt's former president, Hosni Mubarak, in court in Cairo on Monday, in video image taken from Egyptian State Television. As is traditional in Egyptian trials, they were inside a metal defendants' cageAlaa Mubarak, left, and Gamal Mubarak, sons of Egypt's former president, Hosni Mubarak, in court in Cairo on Monday, in video image taken from Egyptian State Television. As is traditional in Egyptian trials, they were inside a metal defendants' cage (Egyptian State TV/Associated Press)Tunisia's deposed president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has been tried and convicted several times since he fell several weeks before Mubarak, but always in absentia. He remains in exile in Saudi Arabia.Mubarak, el-Adly and others are charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the protesters who were killed. All could face the death penalty if convicted.

 

Syria crackdown but governments silent over Arabs angry

Aug 1 (Reuters) - Arabs reacted strongly on Monday to the deaths of dozens of Syrians in Hama at the hands of the Syrian army but most Arab governments kept silent, apparently fearing the power of protest movements that have spread throughout the region this year.

"The world is watching the slaughterhouse in Syria. Shame on us," Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said in a well-received message on social media site Twitter on Sunday. "The peace of God be upon Syria's martyrs. Shame on every Arab and every human being," he also wrote in Arabic.

Though there was an outpouring of anger on social media among activists, immediate reaction was muted on the streets on the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan.

"What happened yesterday in Syria is terrifying. If the international community is silent then many of the Arab rulers could commit similar massacres," said Jalal Shujja, a Yemeni activist at Change Square where activists have been demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule since January.

Hamdeen Sabahi, an Egyptian opposition politician who also intends to run for president, was visibly upset when he was informed of the Hama deaths during a Reuters interview.

"There is no power or might but in God," he muttered, then sat for several minutes in awkward silence.

Though activists have been inspired by protests in other Arab countries, they have been locked in their own battles.

Around 200 people staged a demonstration outside the Syrian embassy in Cairo on Sunday night, but Egyptian activists called for a major show of protest for Monday night.

"I am certain that Assad will not have an easy exit and could end up killing half of his people before he agrees to give up powers but he will lose eventually as the people always win," said Gamal Eid, head of the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

CONFLICTED GULF RULERS

In the Gulf Arab region, where Saudi Arabia has led what analysts have called a "counter-revolution" to bolster allies against protests, media reflected popular revulsion of Assad's attempt to crush opposition but seemed to contrast that with the paternalistic rule of the Gulf ruling dynasties.

In Saudi newspapers, headlines about Syria ran next to picture of King Abdullah and his Ramadan speech calling for Muslims to build "sympathetic, tolerant societies" in which "the wronged forgive those who have wronged them".

Saudi Arabia has had bad relations with Assad because of his close ties to Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, but analysts say the Saudi royal family, which managed to deter mass protests at home, is conflicted over the possibility of seeing another Arab ruler fall.

Kuwaiti authorities have suspended several clerics who criticised Assad in Friday prayer sermons, while Kuwaiti Islamists said this week they will mobilise in media and mosques during Ramadan against Assad's government.

In the United Arab Emirates daily al-Ittihad, the Hama story came below headlines announcing a round of massive housing loans. Having put five people on trial for attempting to mobilise for democratic reforms, the UAE has not allowed a repeat of protests at the Syrian consulate in Dubai in March.

"Arab leaders are just not willing to stand up to the Assad regime and potentially damage the relationship. They don't know if he'll stay in power and there's a chance he will," said Shadi Hamid of the Doha Brookings Center.

He added: "We may possibly see the worst massacre of the Arab Spring right now -- I think we're on the verge of that."

In Morocco, newspapers played down the number of Syrian deaths. King Mohammed has so far outmanoeuvred democracy protesters with a successful referendum on a new constitution that stops far short of making him a figurehead in a constitutional monarchy, maintaining his sweeping powers.

"Arab governments are not reacting because they are concerned that the unrest will spread to other Arab states," said Hilal Khashan, a politics professor in Beirut. "I don't think that continued violence (during Ramadan) will have any official reaction from the rest of the Arab World," he said.