Mubarak, his two sons to be tried on Aug. 3
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An Egyptian criminal court decided on Wednesday to start the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, on Aug. 3 on charges of intentionally killing peaceful protesters and corruption, state news agency MENA reported.
Mubarak, his two sons and the fugitive businessman Hussein Salem, who had a close relation with the former president, will be tried by the North Cairo court and the trial will be presided by Judge Ahmed Refaat.
Egypt's General Prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud last week referred the trio to the criminal court. They were accused of a range of charges, including premeditated murder of protesters during the nationwide anti-government demonstration that toppled Mubarak's 30-year rule, misusing presidential power for private gains and profits, along with wasting public funds.
The prosecution stated that Mubarak's illicit gains include several house properties in Sharm el-Sheikh estimated at 40 million Egyptian pounds (about 6.7 million U.S. dollars), in addition to the misuse of power and public funds, and the acquisition of commissions for facilitating business deals, MENA reported.
Mubarak was also accused of being involved with former petroleum minister Sameh Fahmy and other senior officials, together with Hussein Salem in exporting natural gas to Israel, squandering state funds and gaining illicit financial benefits estimated at 2 billion U.S. dollars.
Alaa and Gamal were accused of abusing their influence as the president's sons to facilitate Hussein Salem's access to thousands of feddans of state land for his tourist projects.
The 83-year-old former president has been under custody in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since April 12 when he suffered a heart attack after being questioned by prosecutors for the first time.
He moved to the Red Sea resort after the 18-day protests forced him to resign on Feb. 11. Some 840 people were killed and more than 6,000 others were injured during the protests.
The public prosecutor decided on Tuesday not to transfer Mubarak from the hospital to Tora prison in Cairo due to his unfit health situation as recommended by a medical committee.
The committee said in a report that Mubarak suffered low blood pressure, blood circulatory problems in brain which led to loss of consciousness, and other heart problems that could cause a sudden heart attack, as well as deep depression and overall weakness.
On Saturday, an Egyptian court fined Mubarak and two of his ministers a total of 540 million Egyptian pounds (about 90 million U.S. dollars) for damaging the economy with cutting off the mobile and Internet services during the protests.
