Thursday, 26 May 2011
Former president Hosni Mubarak (L) and former spy chief Omar Suleiman. (File photo)
Egypt’s former Hosni Mubarak, charged with murder, “had complete knowledge of every bullet fired” at protesters, according to damning testimony by his former spy chief, a day before activists plan to stage a mass protest dubbed a “second revolution.”
State-owned al-Akhbar daily reported Thursday that prosecutors partly relied on testimony provided by Omar Suleiman, the former head of intelligence and briefly vice president, to charge Mr. Mubarak with premeditated murder.
“Mubarak had complete knowledge of every bullet fired at protesters, and the number of those killed or wounded,” Mr. Suleiman is reported to have told prosecutors.
State-owned al-Akhbar daily reported Thursday that prosecutors partly relied on testimony provided by Omar Suleiman, the former head of intelligence and briefly vice president, to charge Mr. Mubarak with premeditated murder.
“Mubarak had complete knowledge of every bullet fired at protesters, and the number of those killed or wounded,” Mr. Suleiman is reported to have told prosecutors.
Mr. Suleiman said he relayed to the president hourly updates on the police’s deadly response to the mass protests that began on January 25 to overthrow President Mubarak, who ruled the country for three decades.
“The reports included all instances of firing live ammunition and rubber bullets at protesters in an attempt to abort the revolution,” al-Akbar reported.
Mr. Mubarak may be found guilty even if he did not order the killings of demonstrators but simply allowed the shootings to continue, a senior judge said before the former president was charged this week.
The justice minister has said Mr. Mubarak may be put to death if convicted.
Mr. Mubarak, 83, also faces other charges of corruption. He is in police custody in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh, after reportedly suffering a heart attack during an interrogation.
A medical team commissioned by the public prosecutor has found that the ousted dictator’s health is stable, but he is in a “bad psychological state” and suffers “from mood swings,” the official MENA news agency reported.
Mr. Mubarak will face trial with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, who are in a Cairo prison. The date and location has not yet been decided.
An official inquiry found that at least 846 people were killed during the revolt that ousted the former president on February 11, many of them from gunshot wounds.
Egypt’s ruling military, meanwhile, said it has decided to stay clear of sites of mass protests to avert any unrest, a day before activists plan to stage a mass protest dubbed a “second revolution.”
The military, which has clashed with protesters since it assumed power in February, warned on its Facebook page that there were “suspicious elements who will try to pit the military against the people,” it said, according to Agence-France Presse.
“The Egyptian armed forces decided to have completely no presence in areas of protests to avert these dangers,” it said.
Security forces on Thursday arrested three activists putting up posters for Friday’s rally, according to AFP.
Protesters want the acceleration of trials of former regime figures and their removal from top jobs in police, universities and other public institutions.
An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday a former housing minister who served under Mr. Mubarak to five years in jail and fined him over an illegal land deal, a judicial source said, according to Reuters.
Ahmed al-Maghrabi was one of the first of Mubarak’s ministers to be questioned in a wide-ranging graft investigation demanded by protesters who accused the former president and his administration of amassing wealth at the expense of the public.
Judge Assem Abdul Hamid Nasr found Mr. Maghrabi guilty of the illegal acquisition of public property and wasting public funds worth 73 million Egyptian pounds (around $12 million), a judicial source told AFP.
Prominent businessman Munir Ghabbour was also found guilty in the same case and sentenced to one year in prison.
Mr. Maghrabi is said to have approved Ghabbour’s illegal acquisition of around 18 acres of public land for well below the market price.
Mr. Maghrabi is the third senior minister from Mr. Mubarak’s regime to be sentenced, in a sweeping probe against corruption that has particularly hit the lucrative tourism and construction industries.
Earlier this month, former tourism minister Zuheir Garranah was also jailed for five years for wasting public funds worth $51 million, after authorizing the sale of state-owned land for below the market price.
Once feared Egyptian interior minister Habib al-Adly was also jailed for 12 years for corruption.
Mr. Adly was convicted of money-laundering and illicitly enriching himself while in office.
He faces a second trial on charges of ordering police to shoot protesters, and a third alongside the former premier and finance minister over a deal with a German firm to supply Egypt with license plates at allegedly inflated prices.
Protesters also want a return of security forces to the streets, amid weeks of insecurity and sectarian clashes blamed on remnants of the old regime.
But the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest and best organized opposition movement, said it was “very concerned” by the call for protests.
(Abeer Tayel, an editor at Al Arabiya, can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
“The reports included all instances of firing live ammunition and rubber bullets at protesters in an attempt to abort the revolution,” al-Akbar reported.
Mr. Mubarak may be found guilty even if he did not order the killings of demonstrators but simply allowed the shootings to continue, a senior judge said before the former president was charged this week.
The justice minister has said Mr. Mubarak may be put to death if convicted.
Mr. Mubarak, 83, also faces other charges of corruption. He is in police custody in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh, after reportedly suffering a heart attack during an interrogation.
A medical team commissioned by the public prosecutor has found that the ousted dictator’s health is stable, but he is in a “bad psychological state” and suffers “from mood swings,” the official MENA news agency reported.
Mr. Mubarak will face trial with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, who are in a Cairo prison. The date and location has not yet been decided.
An official inquiry found that at least 846 people were killed during the revolt that ousted the former president on February 11, many of them from gunshot wounds.
Egypt’s ruling military, meanwhile, said it has decided to stay clear of sites of mass protests to avert any unrest, a day before activists plan to stage a mass protest dubbed a “second revolution.”
The military, which has clashed with protesters since it assumed power in February, warned on its Facebook page that there were “suspicious elements who will try to pit the military against the people,” it said, according to Agence-France Presse.
“The Egyptian armed forces decided to have completely no presence in areas of protests to avert these dangers,” it said.
Security forces on Thursday arrested three activists putting up posters for Friday’s rally, according to AFP.
Protesters want the acceleration of trials of former regime figures and their removal from top jobs in police, universities and other public institutions.
An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday a former housing minister who served under Mr. Mubarak to five years in jail and fined him over an illegal land deal, a judicial source said, according to Reuters.
Ahmed al-Maghrabi was one of the first of Mubarak’s ministers to be questioned in a wide-ranging graft investigation demanded by protesters who accused the former president and his administration of amassing wealth at the expense of the public.
Judge Assem Abdul Hamid Nasr found Mr. Maghrabi guilty of the illegal acquisition of public property and wasting public funds worth 73 million Egyptian pounds (around $12 million), a judicial source told AFP.
Prominent businessman Munir Ghabbour was also found guilty in the same case and sentenced to one year in prison.
Mr. Maghrabi is said to have approved Ghabbour’s illegal acquisition of around 18 acres of public land for well below the market price.
Mr. Maghrabi is the third senior minister from Mr. Mubarak’s regime to be sentenced, in a sweeping probe against corruption that has particularly hit the lucrative tourism and construction industries.
Earlier this month, former tourism minister Zuheir Garranah was also jailed for five years for wasting public funds worth $51 million, after authorizing the sale of state-owned land for below the market price.
Once feared Egyptian interior minister Habib al-Adly was also jailed for 12 years for corruption.
Mr. Adly was convicted of money-laundering and illicitly enriching himself while in office.
He faces a second trial on charges of ordering police to shoot protesters, and a third alongside the former premier and finance minister over a deal with a German firm to supply Egypt with license plates at allegedly inflated prices.
Protesters also want a return of security forces to the streets, amid weeks of insecurity and sectarian clashes blamed on remnants of the old regime.
But the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest and best organized opposition movement, said it was “very concerned” by the call for protests.
(Abeer Tayel, an editor at Al Arabiya, can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
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