Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was back in court today over the killing of protesters, a day after the presiding judge summoned Egypt's military ruler and other top officials to testify next week in the trial.
The testimonies of such high-ranking officials could prove decisive in the case, although Judge Ahmed Refaat today said the witnesses would be heard behind closed doors for reasons of national security.
A police officer today told the court that security forces had arms in central Cairo during the uprising and suggested they were used against protesters. Defence lawyers said he was in no position to know.
The judge surprised the court yesterday by saying Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council now ruling Egypt and served as Mr Mubarak's defence minister for two decades, would appear in the witness box on Sunday.
Armed Forces chief of staff Sami Enan and Omar Suleiman, Mr Mubarak's former intelligence chief and briefly his vice-president, will also testify next week, alongside Interior Minister Essam el-Essawy and his predecessor Mahmoud Wagdy.
Earlier this week, police witnesses suggested that neither Mr Mubarak nor his former interior minister, Habib al-Adli, who is also in the dock, had ordered police to shoot. Two witnesses said they were told to exercise "self-restraint".
Lawyers for some of the 850 people killed in the revolt that ousted Mr Mubarak on February 11th have been irked by police statements, saying officers changed their accounts when they were in court.
But the judge dismissed a prosecution bid to raise a case against one witness for alleged false testimony.
As in the four previous sessions since the trial started on August 3rd, Mr Mubarak was flown to the court by helicopter and wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher. The 83-year-old has been hospitalised since April when he was first questioned.
Mr Mubarak is charged with conspiring to kill protesters and "inciting" some police officers to use live ammunition, as well as with corruption. He has denied all charges.
The former president is standing trial with Mr Adli, six police officers and his two sons, Gamal, who was once seen as being groomed for top office, and Alaa, a businessman.
Reuters