Egypt: Trial of ex-President Hosni Mubarak opens
Hosni Mubarak has been treated in hospital in the coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since April
The trial of Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak, who was forced from office by mass demonstrations in February, has begun in Cairo.
Mr Mubarak was taken into court at the police academy in the capital on a stretcher.He is charged with corruption and ordering the killing of protesters - a charge that carries the death penalty.
His sons Alaa and Gamal, ex-Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six former other officials will also face court.
Some 3,000 soldiers and police have been drafted in to maintain order at the police academy for the trial.
It was originally going to be held in a Cairo convention centre but the authorities moved the venue to a temporary courtroom set up inside the academy because of security concerns.
A cage for the defendants has been built and an estimated 600 people are expected to watch the proceedings.
Scepticism
Mr Mubarak, 83, was flown to Cairo from hospital in the coastal resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he had been detained and receiving treatment since April for a heart condition.
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The main charge Hosni Mubarak is facing is the killing of protesters - and that's going to be hard to prove. It is clear that around 850 protesters were killed, and probably by some sort of government agents.
But it's not clear who gave the orders, or whether there are written or spoken commands that can be proved.
It wasn't done by uniformed officers in full sight, but by gunmen operating at night time from the rooftops of buildings. Pinning that command responsibility on Mr Mubarak is quite a difficult prospect.
Analysis
But it's not clear who gave the orders, or whether there are written or spoken commands that can be proved.
It wasn't done by uniformed officers in full sight, but by gunmen operating at night time from the rooftops of buildings. Pinning that command responsibility on Mr Mubarak is quite a difficult prospect.
Outside the trial venue, scuffles broke out between hundreds of supporters and opponents of the ex-president, with hundreds of white-clad police and riot police with shields and helmets intervening to separate demonstrators hurling stones and bottles at each other.
Others gathered outside the police academy were monitoring a large screen erected to show proceedings inside the courtroom.The former Egyptian leader resigned on 11 February, after 18 days of protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, in which some 850 people were killed.
Mr Mubarak's lawyer insists the former president is seriously ill.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says many Egyptians are sceptical about this and believe the military does not want to see the former president humiliated.
One compromise could be to keep the former president in the hospital wing of the academy, and try him there rather than in the cage in the courtroom - but this could trigger street protests, our correspondent says.
It is a very tense moment for Egypt, and if Mr Mubarak does not appear in court there could be further serious confrontations on the streets, our correspondent adds.
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The charges
- Hosni Mubarak: Conspiring in killing of protesters (15 years in prison or death penalty); abusing power to amass wealth (5-15 years)
- Alaa and Gamal Mubarak: abusing power to amass wealth (5-15 years)
- Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six aides: Conspiring in killing of protesters (15 years or death penalty)
- Hussein Salem, business tycoon and Mubarak confidant: tried in absentia for corruption (5-15 years in prison)
"I don't think anyone has any illusions at the moment that the trial would actually be a real, fair trial," protester Nariman Yousseff told the BBC.
"We're all waiting to see what's going to happen, how they're going to get out of it, because it's been pretty clear and it's become even clearer in the last few days that... the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, who are in charge at the moment, do not really have any intention of fulfilling the revolution's demands."Over the past month there have been renewed sit-in protests in Tahrir Square by people angry with the slow pace of change in the country.
Among their demands to the military council in charge has been the call for speedier trial for former regime officials.
On Monday and Tuesday, police backed by army troops moved in to clear the last few protesters from square.
The former interior minister, who is going on trial with Mr Mubarak on Wednesday, was sentenced to 12 years in jail in May for money-laundering and profiteering.
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