With families of victims criticising evidence gathered by prosecution authorities as worthless, the trial of Hosni Mubarak now hinges on the testimony of his minister of defence, and now Egypt's de facto ruler, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Gamal Essam El-Din reports On Saturday Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), is expected to testify in the trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The testimony of Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Anan was initially scheduled for 11 and 12 September. The court trying Mubarak, his two sons, and former security officers, held three closed-door sessions last week, listening to the testimonies of former vice- president and chief of General Intelligence Omar Suleiman; incumbent interior minister Mansour Eissawi and former interior minister Mahmoud Wagdi. On 17 and 18 September the court reviewed video footage presented by the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) containing scenes of police assaulting peaceful protesters between 25 and 31 January. Leaks from Suleiman's five hours on the witness stand on 13 September suggest he told the court Mubarak never issued orders that protesters be shot. Suleiman, 74, served as Egypt's vice-president for 12 days. He was questioned by prosecution authorities in April. Suleiman said that as chief of General Intelligence he submitted a report to Mubarak a few days ahead of the 25 January Revolution warning that "unprecedented levels of popular dissatisfaction about plans to groom Gamal Mubarak to inherit power could provoke a massive uprising". Suleiman, who was a member of Mubarak's inner circle during the 18-day revolution, said he never heard Mubarak give orders to open fire on protesters. He also said security forces were compelled to shoot at mobs who attacked police stations and the headquarters of Mubarak's now defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). On 14 September Interior Minister Mansour Eissawi gave three and a half hours of evidence. In France during the 25 January Revolution, Eissawi was appointed minister of the interior on 5 March. Eissawi was summoned to testify upon the request of lawyers defending the families of the victims of the revolution to explain the responsibility and duties of the interior minister and chief of central security forces. "Security forces," said one officer who requested anonymity, "lacked the authority to open fire on protesters without first receiving an order from the president of the republic". On 15 September former interior minister Mahmoud Wagdi took the witness stand for three hours. Wagdi, a former chief of the Prisons Department, was appointed minister of interior on 30 January. The date of his appointment is key: while he was not expected to furnish information on the killing of up to 860 protesters in the last week of July Wagdi's testimony was expected to shed light on the events of 2 and 3 February, the Battle of the Camel, in which 11 protesters were killed and hundreds injured. Most political and security experts agree that Tantawi's testimony will in the end determine whether or not Mubarak was implicated in the murder of peaceful protesters. Tantawi will answer questions about whether Mubarak ordered him, in his capacity as minister of defence, to open fire on protesters after central security forces had failed to stem the tide of demonstrations. Video footage presented to the court by the GID on 17 and 18 September was not only inconclusive but verged on the farcical. Several hours of film contained few images from the 2 February Battle of the Camel and even fewer from events between 25 and 31 January which lawyers representing the families of protesters had demanded GID make available to the court. Prosecution lawyers called the footage worthless. Some videos showed the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. Others, dating from 1996, showed tourists entering the Egyptian Museum. Lawyers for the plaintiffs filed a report with presiding judge Ahmed Rifaat demanding an investigation into those responsible for providing the film. GID was headed by Omar Suleiman from 1993 until he left office on 11 February. Mubarak's lawyer Farid El-Deeb believes that court hearings have so far gone in favour of his client while lawyers representing the families of victims complain the evidence prosecutors have presented against Mubarak and his former security chiefs has been worthless. Meanwhile, Cairo's Criminal Court acquitted Gamal, Mubarak's younger son, of conspiring with former tourism minister Zoheir Garana to issue operating licences to tourism companies illegally. The court sentenced former tourism minister to three years in prison for issuing the licences. Garana, who was convicted in May on different corruption charges, is one of many former regime officials to face trial since Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office.
