Cairo Criminal Court on Thursday adjourned the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak to 9 January, when the court will hear arguments from the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Mubarak, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six of Adly's assistants are charged with involvement in killing protesters during the 25 January revolution, while Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, and businessman Hussein Salem are being tried on corruption charges.
The prosecutor on Thursday demanded the death penalty for the ousted Egyptian leader on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising.
Mustafa Khater, one member of a five-member prosecution team, also requested the death sentence for Mubarak's security chief and six top police commanders.
"Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants," said Khater on the third and final day of the prosecution's opening statement.
During the hearing, the prosecution charged Mubarak and Adly with killing protesters during the uprising last winter.
The prosecution pointed to the testimonies of former Vice-President Omar Suleiman and former interior ministers Mahmoud Wagdy and Mansour al-Essawy.
Chief Prosecutor Mostafa Sueliman said that Essawy and Wagdi were questioned by the court about whether the interior minister could deal with the situation without referring back to the president. One of the former ministers replied, “Of course not,” while the other said, “I would telephone the president and inform him that we’re dealing with the situation from a security persvective but that the situation needs to be dealt with politically.”
The prosecution then added: “The interior minister is the main one responsible for security and shooting protesters, as Suleiman, Essawy and Mubarak himself testified, when he [Mubarak] said that shooting shouldn’t take place without orders from the interior minister, except in cases of self-defense.”
