Doubts Grow in Egypt About Trial for Mubarak
Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
Sentiment against former President Hosni Mubarak has been expressed in various ways in Cairo since his ouster, including posters, burning images and graffiti.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: July 23, 2011
NYT
Of concern now is how the sentiment against Mubarak might be expressed if his trial, scheduled to begin early next month, is postponed, as many believe it will be.
A man burns a picture of former President Hosni Mubarak.
In anticipatory anger, some are already planning protests. Setting the trial date, activists say, was just an element of political theater, part of the ritual of superficial concessions that the military-led transitional government has made after each big new demonstration in Tahrir Square.
“The signs show that there is no intention to try him,” said Mahmoud el-Khodeiry, a former senior judge who a few months ago participated in a mock trial of Mr. Mubarak in the square. He is so sure, Mr. Khodeiry said, that he is planning to travel to Sharm el Sheikh, where Mr. Mubarak is under guard at a hospital, to participate in a protest scheduled for Aug. 5. The announced trial date, for the record, is Aug. 3.
No one expects it to start then, said Sayed Salmony, 26, an informal master of ceremonies in Tahrir who leads chants demanding the trial. “It will definitely be postponed,” he said.
The prospect of a once-untouchable autocrat brought down before the law has captivated the Arab world. Some in power fear that a trial will embolden protesters in other countries. Some in the streets of those countries worry it could harden the resolve of embattled leaders not to give up power.
In Egypt, though, the immediate concern is about what happens in the meantime. After five months of mounting demonstrations calling for swift justice against Mr. Mubarak, who faces charges of corruption and of ordering the killing of protesters, some warn of an explosion of rage if he fails to appear on schedule in the metal cage that Egyptian courts use as a docket.
“I think it will be a critical situation if he doesn’t show up,” said Mohamed Sabry el-Gazzar, 34, a protester who was taking refuge from the blistering sun in a makeshift tent on Friday. “At the end of the day, you can’t make fools out of 85 million people.”
But there are many reasons to doubt it will come off. For one, the current trial date is during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when most Egyptians fast all day, feast much of the night, and little else gets done. And even without the excuse of Ramadan, almost every other trial of a Mubarak government figure has been postponed at least once.
Then there are the questions about Mr. Mubarak’s health that have so far kept him from any jail or courthouse. He has remained in a hospital near his summer home in Sharm el Sheikh since he complained of heart pains during his initial interrogation. Government officials have deemed his health too delicate for incarceration.
As the scheduled trial date has drawn near, his lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, has twice raised alarms about other maladies that might keep Mr. Mubarak from trial, including a recurrence of cancer and a stroke-induced coma, although doctors speaking in the official media have denied both reports.
Mr. Deeb said in a brief interview that no one had given him a firm date for Mr. Mubarak’s trial. “We are currently waiting for an official announcement from the military council,” he said.
A senior prosecutor who was said to be working on the case was on vacation last week, according to his secretary. Interior Ministry officials, meanwhile, say they have made no plans for security or other logistics. And Abdel Aziz Omar, chief of the Egyptian appeals court, said in an interview that top judges had not settled on even a short list of possible venues, in part because they were busy with a judicial reorganization and in part because they were looking for a big enough courtroom. Then it will be up to the judge in charge of the case to decide whether to postpone it, Mr. Omar said.
Many doubt that the generals now running the country — or, for that matter, the Mubarak-appointed prosecutors — have much enthusiasm for humiliating their former boss. And many note that the military continues to resort to swift military trials for certain street crimes but insists on methodical due process for the man who ruled Egypt so completely for 30 years.
Egyptians also insist, despite official denials, that rich oil monarchies — and potential aid donors — like Saudi Arabia are lobbying against a public trial, for fear that it will encourage insurrection elsewhere in the region. “There is obviously a lot of pressure from Arab countries not to prosecute him,” said Mr. Khodeiry, the former judge.
In Tahrir Square, the stage for the protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak, the anger is intensifying as the doubts pile up. On Friday, several people there said independently that if Mr. Mubarak’s trial was put off, Egyptians should take justice into their own hands.
“Bad things will happen,” said a 58-year-old carpenter whose identification card read Gamal Abdel Nasser — the name of the Egyptian officer who led the last revolution, in 1952. “People are fed up.”
One suggested planting a bomb, and three said that aggrieved citizens should take their wrath out on police officers suspected of violence. “An eye for an eye,” said Mohamed Abdel Hamid, 25, a contractor.
But Mr. Salmony, who helps lead the demonstrations, said he believed that protest leaders would escalate “civil disobedience” only gradually, for fear of alienating the public. “Right now people don’t trust the government,” he said, “and they don’t trust us, either.”
“The signs show that there is no intention to try him,” said Mahmoud el-Khodeiry, a former senior judge who a few months ago participated in a mock trial of Mr. Mubarak in the square. He is so sure, Mr. Khodeiry said, that he is planning to travel to Sharm el Sheikh, where Mr. Mubarak is under guard at a hospital, to participate in a protest scheduled for Aug. 5. The announced trial date, for the record, is Aug. 3.
No one expects it to start then, said Sayed Salmony, 26, an informal master of ceremonies in Tahrir who leads chants demanding the trial. “It will definitely be postponed,” he said.
The prospect of a once-untouchable autocrat brought down before the law has captivated the Arab world. Some in power fear that a trial will embolden protesters in other countries. Some in the streets of those countries worry it could harden the resolve of embattled leaders not to give up power.
In Egypt, though, the immediate concern is about what happens in the meantime. After five months of mounting demonstrations calling for swift justice against Mr. Mubarak, who faces charges of corruption and of ordering the killing of protesters, some warn of an explosion of rage if he fails to appear on schedule in the metal cage that Egyptian courts use as a docket.
“I think it will be a critical situation if he doesn’t show up,” said Mohamed Sabry el-Gazzar, 34, a protester who was taking refuge from the blistering sun in a makeshift tent on Friday. “At the end of the day, you can’t make fools out of 85 million people.”
But there are many reasons to doubt it will come off. For one, the current trial date is during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when most Egyptians fast all day, feast much of the night, and little else gets done. And even without the excuse of Ramadan, almost every other trial of a Mubarak government figure has been postponed at least once.
Then there are the questions about Mr. Mubarak’s health that have so far kept him from any jail or courthouse. He has remained in a hospital near his summer home in Sharm el Sheikh since he complained of heart pains during his initial interrogation. Government officials have deemed his health too delicate for incarceration.
As the scheduled trial date has drawn near, his lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, has twice raised alarms about other maladies that might keep Mr. Mubarak from trial, including a recurrence of cancer and a stroke-induced coma, although doctors speaking in the official media have denied both reports.
Mr. Deeb said in a brief interview that no one had given him a firm date for Mr. Mubarak’s trial. “We are currently waiting for an official announcement from the military council,” he said.
A senior prosecutor who was said to be working on the case was on vacation last week, according to his secretary. Interior Ministry officials, meanwhile, say they have made no plans for security or other logistics. And Abdel Aziz Omar, chief of the Egyptian appeals court, said in an interview that top judges had not settled on even a short list of possible venues, in part because they were busy with a judicial reorganization and in part because they were looking for a big enough courtroom. Then it will be up to the judge in charge of the case to decide whether to postpone it, Mr. Omar said.
Many doubt that the generals now running the country — or, for that matter, the Mubarak-appointed prosecutors — have much enthusiasm for humiliating their former boss. And many note that the military continues to resort to swift military trials for certain street crimes but insists on methodical due process for the man who ruled Egypt so completely for 30 years.
Egyptians also insist, despite official denials, that rich oil monarchies — and potential aid donors — like Saudi Arabia are lobbying against a public trial, for fear that it will encourage insurrection elsewhere in the region. “There is obviously a lot of pressure from Arab countries not to prosecute him,” said Mr. Khodeiry, the former judge.
In Tahrir Square, the stage for the protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak, the anger is intensifying as the doubts pile up. On Friday, several people there said independently that if Mr. Mubarak’s trial was put off, Egyptians should take justice into their own hands.
“Bad things will happen,” said a 58-year-old carpenter whose identification card read Gamal Abdel Nasser — the name of the Egyptian officer who led the last revolution, in 1952. “People are fed up.”
One suggested planting a bomb, and three said that aggrieved citizens should take their wrath out on police officers suspected of violence. “An eye for an eye,” said Mohamed Abdel Hamid, 25, a contractor.
But Mr. Salmony, who helps lead the demonstrations, said he believed that protest leaders would escalate “civil disobedience” only gradually, for fear of alienating the public. “Right now people don’t trust the government,” he said, “and they don’t trust us, either.”
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 11:23 PM
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