Defense asks ElBaradei to testify in Mubarak trial
APNews
Jan 28, 2012
A lawyer for Egypt's former interior minister asked the court on Saturday to have Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei testify as a witness in his client's defense.
Mohammed el-Gendi, an attorney for Habib el-Adly, said ElBaradei could testify that security forces from the Interior Ministry protected him and ensured he arrived home safely during the most violent day of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
ElBaradei, an outspoken critic of the Mubarak regime as well as Egypt's current military rulers, could not be immediately reached for comment.
El-Adly is charged along with Mubarak and four police commanders of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 18-day revolt last January and February. They could face the death penalty if convicted. Mubarak and his two sons are facing separate charges of corruption in the same case.
El-Gendi, who has five days to present his arguments, was addressing the court on the one-year anniversary of Egypt's "Day of Rage," in which hundreds of protesters were killed and wounded in clashes with police.
Several hundred protesters prayed on Cairo's Qasr al-Nil bridge Saturday, which spans the Nile River, for those killed a year ago. The bridge was the scene of some of the most violent confrontations with security forces as protesters pushed their way to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-Mubarak revolt. The gathering was one of a number of rallies and protests this week marking the year anniverary _ and pushing demands for the ruling military to cede power.
Police used live ammunition, fired water cannons and rammed people with armored police vehicles on the bridge a year ago before the security forces, which were run by el-Adly, collapsed and disappeared from the streets.
Adel Abdullah, a 31-year old, was in tears. He said he lost his friend on the bridge last year. "I am sad for those who died and what is happening now. So long as the military council is in power, nothing will change in this country."
At the trial Saturday, el-Gendi compared Mubarak to former U.S. President George W. Bush, saying that the U.S. leader was responsible for wars that led to the deaths of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan and was never tried in court.
"Mubarak is being tried even though he never said he ordered the shootings," el-Gendi said.
Earlier this week, el-Gendi claimed the U.S. and Israel plotted the killings of protesters and accused security guards at the American University in Cairo of opening fire on the demonstrations. The university, which has a building that borders Tahrir Square, immediately issued a denial.