generalspeaking

Oh Mubarak...

What a dog's breakfast. Egyptian police went into Tahrir Square and scattered the remaining demonstrators, insistent that former President Hosni Mubarak face 'justice'. Hosni Mubarak, his sons and a few of his officials and friends have been charged with criminal offences against the state. But for the most part those who formed government with him, including high ranking military officials are still in the roles they had before the changeover in authority.

President Mubarak spent his decades in power at the head of Egypt's government in tamping down the aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood. He had no sympathies for their agenda, and cleaved to a secular governance, while they conspired to bring Islamism and Sharia law to Egypt from whence it could be spread elsewhere. Officially outlawed, they were tolerated, and they spread their religious ideology over the decades elsewhere in the Middle East, with tentacles in Europe and North America.

And now they're no longer in bad odour in Egypt. The ruling military council sees them as a potential aid to their own continued governance. And the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, along with Egypt's judiciary, all of whom were appointed by former President Mubarak, now sit in forced judgement upon the man. They will impose upon him the kind of justice that the ravening crowd insists upon. He, his cronies, and his sons will represent a symbolic cleansing of the old guard.

It has been revealed that Israeli Member of the Knesset Ben-Eliezer visited Mr. Mubarak and invited him to seek refuge in Israel: "I met [Mubarak] in Sharm el-Sheikh and I told him that it was a short distance and that it might be a good chance to heal himself. I am convinced that the Israel government would have accepted him but he declined [the offer] because he was a patriot."

Which is certainly how the former president sees himself. He could have gone to Saudi Arabia for safe haven, but chose not to, convinced he had done nothing to regret.

And now the prosecutor in his trial taking place in Cairo has dutifully accused him of responsibility in the deaths of protesters in February when the country embarked on its rendezvous with history. The prosecution contended that Mr. Mubarak "had the intention to kill a number of protesters in different governorates who staged peaceful demonstrations against the deterioration of conditions."

	Hosni Mubarak is wheeled into a holding cell in the court room in the police academy in Cairo.
	Photo by: AFP photo / Egyptian TV

He was accused of corruption and wasting public funds. The indignity of the former president being wheeled into a courtroom cage, lying on a hospital bed to face trial mightily pleased the implacably-demanding protesters. It remains to be seen how the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces, as the acting government, will permit the trial to be played out.

They are as much responsible for anything that occurred during the protests as is the former president.

	Egyptian army soldiers stand alert outside the Mubarak trial site in Cairo, Aug. 3, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

"We need people to keep order and stay seated in order for us to perform our job and for justice to take its course. all of us will face God with sound hearts and this is what we hope. May God help us."Should he be convicted of the charges against him, Mr. Mubarak could face the death penalty.

Not all Egyptians condemn their former president. He has his supporters, those who trust and believe in him and for whom this trial represents a travesty.

	Supporters of Hosni Mubarak shout slogans outside the police academy where his trial will take place, in Cairo, August 3, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

And the response from those opposed to him was "Raise your voice, freedom will not die".
Photo by: Reuters

Labels: Egypt, Human Rights, Traditions, Troublespots

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, August 03, 2011