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| Africa North |
| Egypt army responsible for killings: Mubarak lawyers |
| 2012-01-19 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] Lawyers for Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... said on Wednesday the military was responsible for the deaths of protesters during the revolt that ousted the Egyptian president last year, insisting he had done nothing wrong. The prosecution wants Mubarak to hang for the killing of hundreds of protesters in the 18-day revolt that forced him to quit on February 11 and hand over power to the army. On the second day of arguing his case, defence Farid al-Deeb said Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six top officers are not responsible for the bloodshed that started January 28, three days after the revolt began. Several protesters were killed in three days of unrest that preceded the full-blown revolt on January 28 and dozens injured, according to figures released at the time. Deeb said the reasoning behind his argument was based on the fact that Mubarak imposed a curfew on the afternoon of the 28th which, by law, made the army responsible for security. "Mubarak used his constitutional power and issued an order imposing a curfew across Egypt and put the army in charge of security from 4:00 pm, January 28," Deeb told the court. Deeb said the killing and wounding of protesters began after 4:00 pm on that day, which places the responsibility of the bloodshed squarely on the shoulders of the armed forces. "Therefore, it does not make sense that police ordered the killing of protesters. The police did not have the jurisdiction or authority to issue any orders since the authority had been transferred to the head of the army." |
| Posted by:Fred |