Egypt’s fallen dictator Mubarak back in the dock

CAIRO: The murder and corruption trial of Egypt’s fallen dictator Hosni Mubarak resumes on Monday in what lawyers say will be a lengthy process that he may successfully appeal.

Mubarak, 83, is accused of involvement in the killings of anti-regime activists during a January and February revolt that ended his three decades in power.

He also faces corruption charges with his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, and shares the murder charges with his former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six former police commanders, who are being tried by the same judge in separate hearings.

Mubarak is being held in a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.

In the first session on August 3, Mubarak was wheeled in on a stretcher after being flown by military plane from a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he was receiving treatment for a heart condition.

His appearance in court, penned in a black metal cage, came as a shock to Egyptians who watched the proceedings on live television. Few believed he would ever be seen in court.

But as the first hearing progressed, the difficult task facing judge Ahmed Refaat became clear, as dozens of lawyers representing victims’ families jostled to make their demands of the court.

Mubarak’s lawyer Farid al-Deeb, who told an Egyptian newspaper that Mubarak will be present for the second hearing, asked the judge to call 1,600 witnesses, including top military officials.

The military was called out on January 28, after protesters torched police stations across the country, and took charge on February 11 when Mubarak resigned.

Ahmed Mekki, a recently retired deputy head of Cairo’s appeals court, said the trial will now move to investigating the evidence and calling witnesses, first for the prosecution and then for the defence.

But the court will probably cull the list of witnesses demanded by Deeb, which would provide him with solid ground for appealing a possible guilty verdict, said one of the lawyers representing victims in civil suits.

“If the court does not listen to all the witnesses, it will give grounds for appeal,” said Taher Abu Nasr, whose Front for the Defence of Egyptian Protesters represents 35 plaintiffs.

“There will be an appeal, and the appeal will be successful,” Abu Nasr said.

Most of the lawyers have yet to review the thousands of documents of evidence that have been provided by the court, some say belatedly.

But judging by the cases of dozens of police commanders who face charges or are on trial over alleged crimes during the revolt, they fear the evidence against Mubarak to be patchy and ill-prepared.

Legal experts say that a thorough investigation into Mubarak’s alleged crimes should have taken several more months, but the military and the government expedited the process to mollify protesters.

“The prosecution (filed the case) perhaps before questioning people they should have questioned,” said Abu Nasr.

“The case was filed under street pressure,” said Mekki, adding that he believed the court would still conduct the trial fairly.

“The prosecution may be amenable to pressure, but the court will not rule unjustly,” he said.

More than 850 people were killed in the 18 days that led to Mubarak’s ouster, and thousands more were wounded. AGENCIES

Indian Lt Gen PK Rath Punished

Breaking News NEW DELHI: Lieutenant General P.K. Rath, who was found guilty in the Sukhna land scam by an Army Court in New Delhi, was on Saturday handed down a sentence including a two-year seniority loss and forfeiture of 15 years of service for pension purposes.

Lieutenant General Rath was found guilty on three counts — firstly for providing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the construction of the building next to the Army headquarters in Sukna, secondly for signing a Memorandum of Understand (MoU) with the private builder and thirdly for not informing the Eastern Command headquarters while the process was being carried on by him.

“To take rank and precedence as if appointment as substantiating the Lieutenant General bore dated May 24, 2010, forfeiture of 15 years service for pensionary benefits and severely reprimand,” General Court Martial (GCM) Presiding Officer Lieutenant General I.J. Singh said in his verdict.

This verdict will now have to be confirmed by the Army Chief and the Defence Ministry.

The land scam came into the open in mid-2008 and the names of Lieutenant General Rath and Lieutenant General Avadhesh Prakash figured among the senior army officers who influenced the decision to issue the NOC to a Siliguri-based private builder to construct an educational institution on a 70-acre land adjacent to the Sukna military station in Darjeeling.

The private builder had floated a trust – Agarwal Geetanjali Education Trust – to set up an affiliate school of the prestigious Mayo College in the area.

Pakistan’s president seeks barter trade with Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari called for a barter agreement with Sri Lanka on Monday to boost trade between the two countries.

Zardari, on a visit to the island, told legislators that they should switch to exchanging their goods and services rather than depend on dollar-denominated import-export trade that drew on foreign reserves.

“If you have anything in abundance we can trade (with that),” Zardari told the Sri Lanka-Pakistan parliamentary friendship association. “We have an abundance of cement, you have tea and other commodities that we can exchange.”

Zardari, who arrived in Colombo Saturday, held closed-door talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse and discussed increasing trade and defence cooperation, the Sri Lankan president’s office said Monday.

It gave no details of the defence cooperation, but Pakistan was a main supplier of

England thrash Australia A by 10 wickets in final warm-up

SYDNEY: Skipper Andrew Strauss smashed a four through midwicket to give England a 10-wicket victory over Australia A in their final warm-up match for the Ashes in Hobart on Saturday.

The tourists again had plenty to be cheerful about in the last of their three matches in Australia before their defence of the Ashes begins on Thursday in Brisbane.

Batsman Ian Bell hit 192 and England’s back-up bowlers Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan grabbed seven and six wickets respectively.

England’s likely bowling attack for the first test, Stuart Broad, Steve Finn, Graeme Swann and James Anderson, are already in Queensland acclimatising. AGENCIES

S.Korea surveillance plane crashes in southwest

SEOUL: A South Korean surveillance plane has crashed in the southwest of the country, the defence ministry in Seoul said on Friday.

A ministry official denied an earlier report by South Korea’s YTN cable TV network said that it had been a U.S. plane that crashed. “It’s ours,” the official said. “We’re on a search and rescue operation.” AGENCIES

Bush under fire over waterboarding claims

LONDON: Former US president George W. Bush on Tuesday faced a barrage over criticism over his defence of simulated drowning or “waterboarding” to interrogate terrorist suspects.

The ex-commander-in-chief claimed in his newly released memoirs that use of the technique had directly prevented terrorist attacks in Britain and the US.

Shami Chakrabarti, of human rights group Liberty, said: “After the atrocity of 9/11, the American president could have united the world against terrorism and towards the rule of law.

“Instead, President Bush led a great democracy into the swamp of lies, war and torture in freedom’s name. Democracy can do better and, learning from the past, it will.”

The government said it continued to regard waterboarding as torture and last month the country’s Secret Intelligence Service chief, John Sawers, described the use of torture as

Bush under fire over waterboarding claims

LONDON: Former US president George W. Bush on Tuesday faced a barrage over criticism over his defence of simulated drowning or “waterboarding” to interrogate terrorist suspects.

The ex-commander-in-chief claimed in his newly released memoirs that use of the technique had directly prevented terrorist attacks in Britain and the US.

Shami Chakrabarti, of human rights group Liberty, said: “After the atrocity of 9/11, the American president could have united the world against terrorism and towards the rule of law.

“Instead, President Bush led a great democracy into the swamp of lies, war and torture in freedom’s name. Democracy can do better and, learning from the past, it will.”

The government said it continued to regard waterboarding as torture and last month the country’s Secret Intelligence Service chief, John Sawers, described the use of torture as

400,000 secret reports of Iraq war to be released soon by WikiLeaks

US Department of Defence said that it was searching through an Iraq war database to prepare for potential fallout from an expected release by WikiLeaks of some 400,000 secret military reports.
The Department of Defence is concerned the leak compiles significant activities from the war, or SIGACTS, which include incidents such as known attacks against coalition troops, Iraqi security forces, civilians or infrastructure in the country. The data was culled from an Iraq-based database that contained significant acts, unit-level reporting, tactical reports, things of that nature, said a Pentagon spokesperson and officials still do not know how many and which documents would be released. He urged WikiLeaks to return the documents to the US military, which he said found no need to redact them in the interim. The website has been undergoing scheduled maintenance since September 29, but promises to be back online as soon as possible.

400,000 secret reports of Iraq war to be released soon by WikiLeaks

US Department of Defence said that it was searching through an Iraq war database to prepare for potential fallout from an expected release by WikiLeaks of some 400,000 secret military reports.
The Department of Defence is concerned the leak compiles significant activities from the war, or SIGACTS, which include incidents such as known attacks against coalition troops, Iraqi security forces, civilians or infrastructure in the country. The data was culled from an Iraq-based database that contained significant acts, unit-level reporting, tactical reports, things of that nature, said a Pentagon spokesperson and officials still do not know how many and which documents would be released. He urged WikiLeaks to return the documents to the US military, which he said found no need to redact them in the interim. The website has been undergoing scheduled maintenance since September 29, but promises to be back online as soon as possible.

Karachi: Army asked to supervise by-polls at PS-94

The Sindh government formally sent an application to the Defence Ministry seeking deployment of troops at PS-94 to maintain peace on the eve of by-polls, Dunya News reported on Thursday.
Sindh governments Interior Department asked the ministry to deploy army men for three days to maintain law and order at the said constituency on a special request of Election Commission.
The decision to the effect has been taken during a meeting of the Sindh interior ministry. Provincial Election Commissioner Sonu Khan Baloch said that members of both ANP and MQM are vying for the said seat and that was why army has been asked to deploy its men to maintain peace. The troops are likely to be deployed at 70 to 80 polling stations notified as sensitive.

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