An audio message by ousted President Hosni Mubarak, which was broadcast on the Saudi-owned news channel Al-Arabiya on Sunday, prompted many reactions in legal and political circles.
In the message, Mubarak denied that he abused his authority to amass wealth and property and rejected what he labeled as "false allegations" against him which he said "aimed to ruin" his reputation.
On his Twitter account, Mohamed ElBaradei wrote, “Since day one, there have been repugnant attempts to circumvent the revolution’s demands and credibility is now on the line.”
Possible presidential candidate Magdy Hatata said the message “is an extension of the plans of the revolution’s enemies and the remnants of the former regime.”
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesman Sobhi Saleh said that if Mubarak is being truthful on the subject of his finances, he should reveal the secret codes to his bank accounts.
Emad Gad, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said that Mubarak resorted to the use of emotional language "in order to play on Egyptian’s emotions and to create division.”
“If Mubarak’s claims are proven wrong, then this message is just another crime of deception to be added to the other crimes he committed throughout the past 30 years,” said political science professor Hassan Nafea.
Mostafa Abu Talib, head of the Giza Criminal Court, explained that the ousted president has the right to speak to the media despite his house arrest. However, lawyer Nasser Amin said that people under house arrest are banned from direct or indirect communications with the public; they are permitted to carry on with their day-to-day lives but not allowed to receive any visitors without prior permission.
Constitutional law expert Ibrahim Darwish said that Mubarak’s legal situation is not good since there are a large number of cases filed against him. Darwish said there is evidence available supporting some of the charges against him, “the most significant of which is his failure to abide by his constitutional oath, which he gave more than once.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition
