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| Africa North | ||
| Defense lawyer portrays Mubarak as 'clean' leader | ||
| 2012-01-18 | ||
CAIRO: Hosni Mubarak's chief defense lawyer on Tuesday portrayed the ousted Egyptian president as a "clean" leader who placed the law above all else and worked tirelessly for his nation.
Farid El-Deeb's opening statements to the court also sought to paint a picture of the 83-year-old Mubarak as a victim of malicious accusations while his health was failing. He was looking to the court for justice, El-Deeb said.
Lawyers for families of those killed and wounded have argued that even if Mubarak did not issue orders to shoot protesters, he failed to give orders to stop the killing. The prosecution later delivered a harsh assessment of Mubarak's rule, saying he was directly responsible for the killing of protesters and that he devoted the last 10 of his nearly three decades in power to ensure that his son, banker-turned-politician Gamal, would succeed him. Mubarak and his two sons -- wealthy businessman Alaa and Gamal -- also face corruption charges. All three were in court Tuesday. As has been the practice since the trial began on Aug. 3, Mubarak was brought by helicopter to the courthouse -- a lecture room in a police academy that once bore his name -- from a hospital where he is held in custody east of Cairo. He appeared in court laying on a gurney inside a metal defendants' cage, wearing dark sunglasses and covered by a blanket. Judge Ahmed Rifaat has given the Mubaraks' defense lawyers five sessions in court to state their case. "Mubarak is neither a tyrant nor a bloodthirsty man. He respects the judiciary and its decisions. A clean man who could say no wrong," said El-Deeb, who has built up a reputation over the years as a highly paid celebrity lawyer. "This man who stands in front of you is 83, fatigued by ailments after devoting his entire life to the service of his nation. He has been mauled by malicious talk. He has been targeted from all directions and his reputation has been hit by tongues and pens," said El-Deeb, who is also defending Alaa and Gamal. The three have eight co-defendants, including Mubarak's former security chief Habib El-Adly and six top police commanders. El-Adly and four of the six commanders are charged with complicity in the killing of the protesters. A friend of the Mubarak family's, fugitive Hussein Salem, is also facing corruption charges. El-Deeb enraged lawyers for the victims on Tuesday when he claimed that Mubarak supported the uprising that toppled him. He quoted from a letter Mubarak wrote to lifetime friend and Cabinet minister Ahmed Shafiq, whom he named as prime minister during the uprising. In that letter, Mubarak said the protesters were exercising their right to stage peaceful protests but were infiltrated by criminals and Islamists who sabotaged public property and challenged the regime's "legitimacy." El-Deeb also chastised the prosecution for what he said was its deviation from its task when its opening statements were political rather than focused on the legal aspects of the case. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 In fact, just this morning we were going to dip him in boiling water so that he may be clean for court, but his babblings about bank account numbers or something lasted so long we had to break, so that he would not be late for court. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-01-18 17:17 |
| #6 No kinda about this, mojo. Remember where Mafia comes from. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-01-18 14:11 |
| #5 "Clean" is relative, especially in the Arab world. Ottoman satraps were expected to make up part of their salary by squeezing those beneath them (baksheesh) and kicking a portion of the proceeds upwards. Kinda like the Mafia. |
| Posted by: mojo 2012-01-18 13:56 |
| #4 FWIW Mubarak's poor health and refusal to retire was a topic of discussion back in 2009. As al-Guardian noted, his attempt to secure succession for his son stirred up a lot of opposition that year. |
| Posted by: lotp 2012-01-18 10:57 |
| #3 I think Mubarak was a Good Guy. Everything following him will be worse. His reign will be seen retroactively as a "Golden Age". But only when it's too late to do anything about it. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2012-01-18 10:49 |
| #2 Hosni's health was just fine until he was arrested... Johnson, quick, we need a new name for a 'syndrome' that strikes down powerful and influential politicians when facing justice rendering them unable to appear in court. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-01-18 07:39 |
| #1 He's definitely was a lot better than his countrymen deserve. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-01-18 01:33 |