Former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was flown on a
military plane Wednesday from a Sinai Red Sea resort to Cairo for the opening of
his historic trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of
protesters during the uprising that ousted him. Outside the trial venue,
scuffles broke out between hundreds of supporters and opponents of the
ex-president.
Security was extremely heavy outside the courtroom, which has been set up in
what was once named the Mubarak Police Academy in the capital Cairo. In a
chaotic scene, hundreds of policemen in gleaming white uniforms separated
clashing demonstrators, who hurled stones and bottles at each other.
Security officials, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized
to talk to the media, said Mubarak was on his way to Cairo from Sharm el-Sheikh
in a military aircraft.
Before the clashes erupted, some 50 of his supporters chanting slogans and
holding portraits of the former leader gathered outside the trial venue.
"We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak," they screamed at
hundreds of police and army troops backed by armored personnel carriers.
The ailing, 83-year-old Mubarak has lived in Sharm since he was toppled on Feb.
11 and has been under arrest in a hospital there since April. Doctors say he
suffers from heart problems.

AP
An Egyptian worker sweeps the cage in a court... View Full Caption
An Egyptian worker sweeps the cage in a court room at the country's national
police academy in a Cairo suburb, Egypt, Sunday, July 31, 2011 where ousted
President Mubarak, his security chief Habib el-Adly and six top police officers
will face trial on Wednesday on charges they ordered the use of lethal force
against protesters during Egypt's 18-day uprising. Some 850 protesters were
killed. (AP Photo) CloseThere had been skepticism up to the moment Mubarak left
the hospital for the airport in a six-car convoy that he would actually appear
for the opening of his trial.
The trial answers, at least partially, growing cries in Egypt for justice not
only for the wrongs of Mubarak's authoritarian regime that ruled Egypt for three
decades but also for the violent suppression of largely peaceful protests during
the 18-day uprising.
Mubarak, who ruled with unquestioned power for 29 years, is expected to appear
during the trial sitting in a cage set up for him and his co-defendants,
including his two sons and his former interior minister. The charges could bring
a death sentence, traditionally carried out by hanging.
Security is very heavy, with barbed wire and hundreds of troops around the
compound. Efforts have been made to ensure spectators in the court can't get
close enough to the defendants' cage to yell and throw objects at them, the
Interior Ministry said.
Many Egyptians are eagerly anticipating the chance at retribution against the
longtime ruler. But they also question whether the trial will truly break with
the injustices of the past. Some worry that Egypt's new military rulers are
touting the trial as proof that democratic reform has been accomplished, even as
activists argue that far deeper change is still needed.
The prosecution of the ousted president is an unprecedented moment in the Arab
world, the first time a modern Mideast leader has been put on trial fully by his
own people.
The closest event to it was former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's trial, but his
capture came at the hands of U.S. troops in 2003 and his special tribunal was
set up with extensive consultation with American officials and international
experts. Tunisia's deposed president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has been tried
and convicted several times since his fall several weeks before Mubarak's, but
all in absentia and he remains in exile in Saudi Arabia.

AP