Mohamed Hesham, member of the defense team of Hassan Abdel Rahman, former head of the now-disbanded State Security Investigation Services, denied Thursday that Abdel Rahman was involved in the killing of protesters during the 25 January revolution.
Hesham said during his statement that state security officers did not engage in securing or breaking up protests on the ground and that their role was only to collect information.
“The investigations revealed that civil rights organizations that received foreign funds before the revolution saying they were going to bring about peaceful change worked to overthrow regimes and create chaos in favor of Israel,” added Hesham.
The sniper teams are affiliated with the Central Security Forces, and the disbanded State Security Investigation Service does not have any sniper weapons, Hesham said.
He said that the decision to supply security with sniper rifles “came in accordance with the ministerial decree for the Central Security Forces to face the terrorist attacks, as it is the military wing of the ministry.”
He went on to say that the green lights which appeared at the time of the 25 January protests were “devices used by protesters to convince [people] that there is a sniper operation against peaceful revolutionaries.”
Hesham said that the diversity of injuries during the 18-day uprising proved the use of multiple weapons and the existence of multiple offenders.Abdel Rahman’s defense team’s argument relied on the testimony of Omar Suleiman, who denied that orders were issued to kill peaceful protesters.
According to Hesham, security forces acted randomly out of fear during the 18-day uprising. Hesham asked that his client be acquitted of all charges. He added that no evidence has been presented showing that Abdel Rahman incited the killing of demonstrators.
The court adjourned to Saturday, when it will hear the argument of the defense team for the former head of Cairo Security Directorate, Ismail al-Shaer, who served also as an assistant to former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly.
Adly, former President Mubarak, and six other top security officers including Abdel Rahman and Shaer face charges of ordering security forces to kill protesters during the revolution. The former president, his sons and businessman Hussein Salem also face corruption charges.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
