The testimony of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak lasted one hour, judicial sources have said, before the trial was adjourned to 30 October.
Dozens of the plaintiffs' lawyers announced a sit-in at the courthouse after they were banned from attending today's crucial session.
Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six of his aides face charges of killing protesters during the 25 January revolution.
Security forces prevented most of the plaintiffs’ lawyers from attending the session, the sources said. Only a few were allowed access, including Sameh Ashour, the former President of the Lawyers Syndicate, who put one question to Tantawi. The court prevented the plaintiffs’ lawyers from asking any further questions of him.
Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and de facto head of state, answered 10 questions addressed to him by Adly's lawyer.
After the session ended, several lawyers went outside the courthouse and announced that Tantawi’s testimony was in favor of the defendants, prompting celebrations among Mubarak’s supporters.
Minor clashes broke out between them and the families of the revolution's martyrs. The police intervened and asked the supporters of the former president to leave the place.
