The capital case against Hosni Mubarak
Prosecutors in the trial of Hosni Mubarak present their case against the former Egyptian leader and demand he be sentenced to death
They quoted from the Quran and cited verses describing God’s fury against tyrants and oppressors. They also spoke of the tormented souls of martyrs hovering over the courtroom seeking retribution; of blind men stumbling around, desperately trying to find the judge so they can plead for justice.
Wearing dark suits and straight faces, the prosecutors in the Hosni Mubarak trial spent three days presenting their case, cataloguing the evolution of a Mubarak presidency that they said degenerated into an oppressive regime in which the ousted leader turned into a tyrant who paid little heed to his people. They said there was no way he
If you had not issued those orders yourself, then where was your outburst of rage over the loss of the lives of your people?
Mustafa Suleiman chief prosecutor
could not have authorised the use of live ammunition against protesters during last year’s 18-day uprising that toppled his 29-year regime. On Thursday, they demanded that the former president, his security chief and four top police commanders be sentenced to death by hanging for killing protesters. They also wanted unspecified prison sentences with hard labour for Mr Mubarak’s two sons, Alaa and Gamal, along with family friend and businessman Hussein Salem, who is a fugitive for corruption.
It was a defining Arab Spring moment unthinkable barely a year ago.
Even if found guilty, Mr Mubarak may not walk to the gallows at the end – he is 83 and ailing – but his conviction and sentencing to death would constitute a landmark in a country that has seen nothing but authoritarian rule since the military seized power in a 1952 coup. Already, his trial stands in contrast to the fate of two other Arab Spring dictators: Muammar Qaddafi’s killing at the hands of Libyan revolutionaries in October and the lastminute escape of Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the face of a popular uprising.
Egyptians already are frustrated with the turmoil roiling their country since the uprising against Mr Mubarak broke out last January. In the last 12 months, they have had to cope with a rapidly worsening economy, precarious security and seemingly endless protests, strikes and sit-ins that are borne out of the freedoms brought by the ouster of Mr Mubarak’s regime.
To them, Mr Mubarak’s trial and the massive media attention it has generated are adding a new layer to the instability they have to endure. But many of them also find some satisfaction in seeing the man who had, for many years, ruled Egypt as his personal property brought to justice in a fair and transparent trial.
The chief prosecutor, Mustafa Suleiman, spoke for them when he addressed the court during the three days set aside by judge Ahmed Rifaat for the prosecution to lay out its case. “Destiny handed the former president power that he did not seek, but he refused to willingly give it up when people demanded that he does. So, it was forcefully taken from him,” said Mr Suleiman, referring to the 1981 assassination of the president Anwar Sadat and his succession by the then-vice president Mubarak.
“He was a president and a ruler who betrayed his oath to protect his people and instead, especially during the last decade of his rule, protected his own interests and those of his family and close associates. A president who devoted the last decade of his rule to do what no other president before him tried to do: to pass the presidency to his son.” Mr Suleiman’s comments also touched on Mr Mubarak’s wife, who is widely thought to have wielded vast, behind- the- scenes powers. “She wanted to be the next president’s mother after being the president’s wife. What they did not real- ise is that Egyptians are not a herd of cattle and Egypt is not a fiefdom.” On Thursday, Mr Suleiman said that Mr Mubarak was “politically and legally” responsible for the killing of the protesters. Habib El Adly, his interior minister and codefendant, authorised the use of live ammunition on orders from Mr Mubarak himself, he said. “He is responsible for what happened and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened. It is irrational and illogical to assume that he did not know that protesters were being targeted.” Addressing Mr Mubarak, he said: “If you had not issued these orders yourself, then where was your outburst of rage over the loss of the lives of your people?”
The trial has been adjourned until tomorrow when the attorneys for the victims’ families will have the first of two days set aside by judge Rifaat for them to lay out their case. The defence for Mr Mubarak and other defendants go next.
The timeline suggests that the judge is planning to fast-track the trial after it was bogged down for months in procedural issues, including the three months it took another court to settle a request by lawyers for the victims’ families to remove judge Rifaat. The request was rejected.
A faster trial would address growing displeasure among activists and protesters that the generals who took over from Mr Mubarak were not really keen on bringing to justice the former head of state and that they are beholden to him. Mr Mubarak is a former air force chief and a decorated war hero. In his capacity as supreme commander of the armed forces, he had the final say in the promotion through the ranks of the generals sitting on the ruling military council. Mr Mubarak would have recourse to appeal if convicted and it would take many months for any verdict against him to be either upheld or overturned. The military council, in its capacity as the head of state, cannot repeal the sentence, but it can prevent it from being carried out. Sparing Mr Mubarak the noose may sit well with Egyptians who may not be ready to hang a man of Mr Mubarak’s age. For the military, it would seem inappropriate for them to execute a fellow soldier, whom they publicly praised after his ouster as wise enough not to cling to power in the face of the uprising, sparing the country the turmoil and bloodshed that had beset Libya and is now engulfing Syria and Yemen. But by the time Mr Mubarak stepped down, more than 800 protesters had been killed and thousands had been wounded.