Civil rights lawyers representing the families of those killed during the 25 January revolution welcomed the court’s decision on Monday to stop the live broadcast of ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s trial.
Lawyers who spoke to Al-Masry Al-Youm said that Juge Ahmed Refaat’s decision aims to facilitate the court proceedings, which have been attended by hundreds of lawyers.
On Monday, Refaat announced he will merge the case of Mubarak and his two sons with that of former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six of his top aides, on charges of conspiracy to kill peaceful protesters. The case was adjourned until 5 September.
A civil rights lawyer for the martyrs’ families, Mohamed al-Damaty, said: “We were the first to call for the live broadcast of the court sessions, however, we now welcome the decision after witnessing the attempts made by several lawyers seeking fame and media attention during previous sessions.”
Damaty went on to say that the decision was in the public’s best interest, explaining that 90 percent of the lawyers will not be present during future hearings since the media will not be present.
Khaled Abu Bakr, another civil rights lawyer, agreed that the decision was in the public’s best interest. He explained that lawyers seeking fame may ruin the case by what he described as “crude and vulgar actions.”
Abu Bakr said that future hearings would be better as such lawyers will not attend if there is no live broadcast.
Abu Bakr explained that the aim of broadcasting the trials has been achieved and that all Egyptians have now seen the ousted president and other defendants in the defendants’ cage, but now the live broadcast is not in the public’s best interest.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
