Egypt’s Interior Minister has said that former president Hosni Mubarak will be taken from hospital to attend his murder trial in a Cairo suburb in a bid to avoid public anger.
Mubarak, whose trial starts on Wednesday, is under arrest in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he is receiving treatment for a heart condition.
His trial sends a stark message to Arab rulers elsewhere that they too may one day be held to account. In domestic politics, putting the former president in the dock may help quell criticism of the generals now running Egypt, suspected by protesters of protecting their former commander.
Egyptians camped out in Cairo for more than three weeks in July demanded faster reforms by the army council, in power since Mubarak was ousted on February 11, including swifter trials of Mubarak and his aides over corruption and protester deaths.
Many suspect the military of foot-dragging over Mubarak, in hospital since April in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort. “The army has interests with the old regime.
They are not doing anything for the people. They worked with Mubarak. They will not harm him, I swear,” Safa Mohamed, 41, said in Suez, scene of some of the worst violence in the uprising.
If convicted, Mubarak could face the death penalty. But few expect that outcome, even if some protesters want it. Many Egyptians will be pleased just to see him in court and in the cage where defendants in Egyptian criminal trials stand.
The trial will have a wider impact in the region too. “It is also a warning message to all Arab rulers who use the same methods as Mubarak that they have to guard against a popular uprising, because if it succeeds then they are going to face the same fate,” said political analyst Mustapha al-Sayyed.
The message may have already reached Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, who have shown no sign of quitting. Gulf Arab states may also have been watching Egypt closely.
An army source said that Saudi Arabia and others were quietly pressing the army to spare Mubarak, a former ally. His trial sets an uncomfortable precedent for Arab autocrats.
