An Egyptian court today adjourned the trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and aides until September 7th, state TV reported.
The court today heard four witnesses in the third session of the trial of Mr Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, former interior minister Habib al-Adli and six senior police officers. All are charged with involvement in the killing of protesters who toppled the president in an uprising in February.
Mr Mubarak is charged with involvement in killing protesters and "inciting" some officers to use live ammunition in the first trial of an Arab leader in person since street unrest erupted across the Middle East earlier this year. About 850 people died in the protests that erupted on January 25th and ended Mr Mubarak's three decades in office on February 11th.
Mr Mubarak (83), hospitalised since April, was wheeled on a trolley into a metal defendants' cage in the court for the third session of his trial and the first to take witness testimony.
Earlier today, a senior police officer told the trial he was not aware of any order to fire on protesters who ousted him, as supporters and opponents of the deposed leader scuffled inside and outside the court.
"In my 30 years of experience with state security, I have not heard of any incident where an order was given to use live ammunition against protesters," police officer Gen Hussein Saeed Mohamed Mursi (54) told the court. Gen Mursi, head of communication in the state security service, was in the police operations room during the uprising.
Proceedings were delayed by a fight in the court when a Mubarak supporter lifted up a photo of the former president, angering relatives of victims of the uprising. Lawyers for plaintiffs also entered the fray. Police stepped in to separate them, those in court said. The agitation prompted Judge Ahmed Refaat to call a recess.
In the last session, the judge banned live television coverage inside the chamber.
Outside, supporters chanted: "He gave us 30 years of protection, Mubarak hold your head up high." Nearby, anti-Mubarak protesters hurled stones at police lines and some officers threw rocks back. At one point police with shields and batons charged a group of demonstrators.
A man with blood on his face shouted: "I call on the free Egyptian people, the youth of the revolution, to see what state security is doing with the revolutionaries."
Gen Mursi described events on January 28th, one of the most violent days, when he said police were ordered to prevent protesters from reaching Tahrir Square, the centre of the protests.
"The orders were to deal with the protesters as the situation mandated and the freedom was left to them to deal with protesters in a manner that they saw fit," Gen Mursi said.
A state television reporter said the prosecution questioned Gen Mursi, saying that in previous statements he had said he had been aware of orders from former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli to use weapons to disperse protesters in front of the Interior Ministry, prisons and police stations.
The general also told the court he overheard a conversation between top officers in the operations room, including those standing trial with Mr Mubarak, saying they did not have reinforcements to protect jails and the Interior Ministry, prompting the officers to release weapons and ammunition.
The ammunition and weapons were transferred in ambulances because police vehicles were targeted, he told the court.
Reuters