The chief prosecutor in the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak has said in his closing remarks that the former president should be given the death penalty for the killings of protesters in last year's uprising.
Mostafa Suleiman says Mubarak clearly authorized use of live ammunition and a shoot-to-kill policy against peaceful protesters. Over 800 were killed in the crackdown from 25 January to 11 February 2011.
For this, Suleiman said on Monday, Mubarak and his co-defendants, including his longtime Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, should receive the maximum sentence.
The prosecution asserted that “Mubarak was ousted by the people and did not leave power voluntarily, and that the defense’s remarks concerning Mubarak continuing to be the president are nonsense.”
Farid al-Deeb, one of Mubarak’s defense attorneys, had said that the court did not have the jurisdiction to consider the case and that the investigations and referral orders were invalid based on the fact that the defendant is still the country’s president and that he did not submit his resignation in writing to the People’s Assembly.
Suleiman responded that “Deeb is the only one who still considers the defendant the country’s president.”
“Constitutional experts said that when a revolution erupts, the ruling regime is toppled,” Suleiman continued.
“There is no evidence that the defendant is the country’s president as he did not leave power voluntarily, he was forced out, and subsequently, he was not the president when he charged the armed forces with handling the country’s affairs until power is handed over to a civilian president,” he said.
The prosecution responded to the defense lawyers’ assertion that the police force had to defend itself by saying, “Self-defense requires a sense of danger, which does not make sense as the protesters were peaceful according to security personnel and eyewitness testimonies.”
Head Judge Ahmed Refaat asked the lawyers representing the civil claimants in the case to submit any memoranda they may have in response to the defense’s remarks. Lawyer’s Syndicate Chairman Sameh Ashour, however, asked to respond and present evidence supporting the public prosecution’s remarks on behalf of the families of the revolutionary martyrs.
The court will reconvene on Wednesday to hear the defense team’s closing arguments and set a date for the sentencing hearing.
