CAIRO: The Egyptian State office of the Supreme Administrative Court proposed cancelling the court verdict against ousted President Hosni Mubarak, former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly for the communication blackout during Egypt's January 25 Revolution. The three were earlier ordered to pay 540 million EGP in fines for the blackout. Those who filed the case against the accused did not provide evidence that the telecom blackout caused harm, according to the proposal. The Administrative Court postponed the trial to consider the Office's proposal. It decided to merge all appeal requests and will pass one verdict for all of them. The court ordered to bring a photocopy of file concerning the meeting of the committee that was held on January 20 in Smart Village and chaired by Nazif. It also requested a photocopy of all decisions taken in the operation room that was formed by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and General Intelligence Services. The earlier ruling ordered Mubarak, al-Adly and Nazif to pay 200 million EGP, 300 million EGP and 40 million EGP respectively. According to the court decision, the blackout was a deliberate action to abort the revolution. Al-Adly said in his appeal that only Mubarak and Nazif are to blame, as Mubarak was president and Nazif gave orders to cut communications. Al-Adly said only Mubarak and Nazif are authorized to do so. Al-Adly added that Mubarak and Nazif were afraid the demonstrations would harm the country's interests. He said once they were assured that the protests were peaceful they restored the services on January 28. While mobile phone service was restored on January 29, internet service was not restored until February 2.
