guardian.co.uk
• Mubarak denies all charges against him
• Appears in court lying on stretcher behind bars
• Trial adjourned until 15 August
• Scenes in court chaotic and at times bizarre
• Click for details of defendants and charges
• Syria: Government troops continue to attack Hama
• Libya: Rebels say they have repelled attack at Zlitan
• Read a summary of today's key events
Hosni Mubarak on his stretcher and behind bars as he faces the court in Cairo today. Photograph: Al-Jazeera
8.19am: Welcome to Middle East Live. It is a historic day in Egypt where Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt with an iron fist for 30 years, goes on trial to face charges of corruption and unlawful killing.
He was brought down by a revolution that started just over six months ago and today will appear in the dock behind the bars of a specially constructed metal cage.
An ambulance believed to be carrying Mubarak has arrived outside the court, where crowds are gathering to witness this momentous event.
We will be bringing you updates on the trial as well as news from the rest of the Middle East.
8.25am: There is a large screen outside the courtroom where supporters and opponents of the former Egyptian president are currently throwing stones at each other. The two appear to be separated by barriers.
Early in the morning, some 50 of Mubarak's supporters chanting slogans and holding portraits of the former leader gathered outside the venue, AP reports.
"We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak," they screamed at hundreds of police and army troops backed by armoured personnel carriers.
8.29am: A picture has been posted online that is said to be the first of the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, outside the ambulance, arriving for his trial.
8.59am: I just spoke to the Guardian's Jack Shenker, who is in downtown Cairo. Jack covered the Egyptian revolution and was initially granted permission to be one of the few foreign journalists inside the courtroom before being denied access by the security services.
He said the headlines in Egyptian papers this morning included "Judgment day" and "The awaited day".
There's been a real sense as to whether he would actually turn up in his white prison overalls in this specially constructed metal cage which all Egyptian criminal defendants are supposed to stand in when they're in court. And the sight of this once mighty dictator so publicly humiliated and so brought down to earth is one which a huge amount of Egyptians are relishing.
Usually in important criminal cases there's an adjournment early on once the trial starts. The first day is given over to procedural matters, technical arguments by both the defence and prosecution. The lawyers usually ask for an adjournment to review the evidence and the judge will often adjourn the case for a month. Now, this judge has promised that this won't happen...Obviously any dealys will be very politically sensitive. Protesters have already complained that the ruling army generals have been delaying this trial for too long, putting off holding Mubarak to account so there's a lot of pressure to get this trial under way.
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9.03am: Hosni Mubarak's two sons, Gamal and Alaa, have arrived in the metal cage in the Egyptian courtroom. A glimpse can be seen of the former dictator in a holding cell, lying on a stretcher. He appeared to be picking his nose.
The judge is opening the proceedings.
9.07am: The judge begins by calling out the names of the accused. They reply in turn "I am present, your honour." Although, for some reason he didn't read out the names of the Mubaraks.
9.15am: While the judge is going through the formalities - he is currently identifying the various lawyers in court - here are some useful links.
Simon Tisdall's profile of Hosni Mubarak for the Guardian, from February:
Mubarak's attitude to his people was by turns paternalistic, aloof and repressive. Though he claimed to love his fellow Egyptians, he did not trust them, maintaining the harsh emergency laws imposed after Sadat's assassination throughout his reign. Leading an unswervingly secular, pro-western regime, he demonised even moderate Islamist parties and made of the Muslim Brotherhood a bogeyman with which to scare the Americans.
Yet, in rare interviews he implied that he believed he held some sort of divine mandate, that he ruled through and by God's will. After he survived an attempt on his life by Gema'a Islamiya (Muslim Group) terrorists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 1995, one of up to eight attempted assassinations over 30 years, he returned to Cairo proclaiming that God had saved him through an act of divine providence, as in 1981.
Imperious, abstemious (he does not smoke or drink), and intensely private, he suggested Egyptians were lucky to have him in charge. Without him, he said repeatedly, there would be only chaos. And this claim to ensure stability was, in truth, his entire electoral manifesto.
The Washington Post has a timeline of Mubarak's rise and rule.
The New York Times has details of the security arrangements for today.
The Ministry of interior and the Army said 5,000 soldiers and officers backed by 50 tanks and armored vehicles would be deployed along the route where Mr. Mubarak and his co-defendants, including his two sons, would be transported to court as well as the court itself, a Cairo police academy. Officials said barbed wire would ring the police academy to stop intruders, and security forces would surround the facility's outer fence.
No one will be allowed inside except the 600 people with the permits, plus civil rights lawyers and a small number of the families of victims of the Mr. Mubarak's failed effort to crush the revolution.
Officials said their security plan included ways to ensure separation between the people attending the trial and the accused, to avoid any verbal or physical assaults on the defendants themselves.
9.26am: The appearance of Mubarak behind bars on a stretcher has not won any sympathy for him from participants in the Egyptian revolution which toppled him, judging by the reaction on Twitter.
@mosaaberizing
Even on a bed in a cage, Mubarak's eye seem to be filled with arrogance, hands resting on chin. Unbelievable. #MubarakTrial
@lilianwagdy
mubarak is obviously faking sorry you get zero sympathy from me dude
9.36am: You can watch al-Jazeera's live stream of Hosni Mubarak's trial here.
9.39am: A picture has been posted online of Gamal Mubarak checking the time inside the cage in the courtroom as a lawyer reads a long list of names
9.44am: The judge has just tried to speed up one of the defence lawyers (not representing the Mubaraks) whose speech was dragging on. The lawyer was appealing for more defendants to be added to the trial, presumably to point the finger at others. The judge requested that the lawyer hand over his demands in writing rather than reciting them all. The lawyer said he wanted to make his points verbally but the judge said: "We do not want to waste time."
9.54am: These are the details of the defendants and the charges.
Hosni Mubarak
Former president of Egypt.
Charged with corruption and the unlawful killing of protesters in the uprising against him earlier this year. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Alaa Mubarak
Son of the ex-president.
Charged with corruption
Gamal Mubarak
Son of the ex-president.
Also charged with corruption.
Habib El-Adly
Former interior minister.
Charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the deaths of those killed during the uprising.
Six others described as senior police officers or former interior ministry officials are also charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the uprising. We'll have more on them when we get it.
10.04am: My colleague Nour Ali (a pseudonym) sends this update on the situation in Syria, where the siege of Hama is continuing into its fourth day. She says that electricity, internet and phone lines have been cut to the whole city from late last night, according to activists and one escaped resident. Tanks and heavy gunfire started around 5am, the resident who left to a nearby city said, but getting further news is difficult. There was a second demonstration in Mohajireen, close to the presidential residence in Damascus, last night, suggesting the area may be joining the fray. The Local Co-ordination Committees, which organise and report on protests in Syria, are reporting on Hama on their Facebook page. Five hours ago they reported "very heavy gunshots and random shelling in Hama".
Nour and Ian Black wrote about yesterday's events in Syria here. Seven people were killed across the country, bringing to at least 140 the number of fatalities since Sunday, when the government launched an offensive in Hama on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said residents on the outskirts of Hama reported seeing lines of tanks heading towards the city early today. Blasts were heard soon afterwards.
Reuters reported that dozens were wounded when demonstrators in the western Damascus suburb of Mouadhamiya, the northeastern city of Hasaka, and the port city of Latakia came under fire after the nightly prayers yesterday.
"The United States should impose crippling sanctions in response to the murder of civilians by troops under the orders of President [Bashar al-]Assad," US senator Mark Kirk, a Republican, said in introducing legislation in Washington to target firms that invest in Syria's energy sector, purchase its oil or sell gasoline. Kirk was joined in sponsoring the bill by Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand and independent senator Joseph Lieberman, who said it was time to push for "a democratic transition that reflects the will of the Syrian people".
The UN security council negotiated for a second day yesterday over a western-backed draft resolution condemning Syria, before adjourning until today. Diplomats said significant differences remained over the text and it had not been decided whether the end result should be a resolution or a less weighty council statement.
10.07am: Anthony Shadid, in the New York Times, makes the interesting point that the trial of Hosni Mubarak could make things more difficult for revolutionaries elsewhere in the Arab world:
The scene of Mr Mubarak standing before a judge may, in fact, make the Arab revolts in Syria, Libya and Yemen all that much more difficult to resolve. Some Arab officials have said that prosecuting Mr Mubarak will make strongmen facing their own uprisings more reluctant to leave.
But few in Egypt, even those uneasy at the idea of an ailing 83-year-old man facing charges that carry the penalty of death, worried about those implications.
10.12am: One of the defence lawyers has requested the presence in court of Muhammad Tantawi, the head of the Egyptian military and therefore de facto head of state at present, and Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former intelligence chief who famously announced the dictator's departure. Suleiman was made vice-president by Mubarak in a bid to quell the uprising against his regime even though Suleiman was feared and despised because of his previous role as head of intelligence.
10.16am: Here is an update on the charges faced by Hosni Mubarak and the other defendants. The former president is charged with:
• Killing demonstrators during the uprising against him earlier this year.
• Profiteering by abusing his position of power
• Exporting gas to Israel for prices lower than international market rates.
Sentences for these charges range from five years in prison to the death penalty.
His sons Alaa and Gamal are charged with profiteering by abusing their father's power. This charge carries a potential sentence of between five and 15 years in prison.
Habib El-Adly and the other six defendants – who are described variously as senior police officers, senior security officers, former interior ministry officials, or aides to El-Adly – are charged with murder and attempted murder in connection to the uprising; the charges carry a potential sentence of 15 years in prison or the death penalty.
10.16am: Scuffles are breaking out outside the court between police and demonstrators, Al-Jazeera is reporting.
10.17am: The Mubaraks have just left the courtroom as the trial has apparently been adjourned (presumably for just a short while). Their case has not been reached by the judge yet.
10.18am: Al-Jazeera is showing riot police in black with shields and helmets, and others in white, outside the court. Rocks are being thrown and protesters and police are being carried away injured, the channel reports.
10.21am: People were attacking the police with rocks, al-Jazeera reports, leading police to move against them.
10.22am: Syria: Reuters is reporting that tanks are occupying Orontes Square in central Hama after heavy shelling of the city.
10.27am: Around 200 riot police charged at people involved in skirmishes, according to al-Jazeera. Opponents and supporters of the former Egyptian president were throwing stones and rocks at each other. Al-Jazeera's reporter Sherine Tadros said police acted after an officer was hit on the head by a rock and was taken away in an ambulance. Other people have also been carried into ambulances injured, she said.
Scuffles outside the court in Cairo where Hosni Mubarak is on trial today. Photograph: Al-Jazeera _
10.36am: The Mubaraks have been brought back into the courtroom.
10.37am: Journalist Sarah Carr says he has seen two people arrested outside the court.
10.41am: More from Hama in Syria, where tanks are occupying the main central square after heavy shelling.
"All communications have been cut off. The regime is using the media focus on the Hosni Mubarak trial to finish off Hama," one of the residents told Reuters, adding that shelling concentrated on al-Hader district, large parts of which were was razed during the 1982 military assault on Hama that killed thousands. The square has been the venue of some of the largest demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad's rule during the five month uprising.
10.42am: The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières today condemned an armed raid on its premises in Bahrain on 28 July and the subsequent detention of one of its staff members. Since February, when demonstrations began in Bahrain, MSF has seen almost 200 injured and ill patients who did not want to seek help from Bahraini health facilities because they feared being arrested for any involvement in the protests or for any affiliation with the protesters.
10.44am: Back to the Mubarak trial in Egypt.
A lawyer representing victims refers to protesters in the "great revolution" having "bombs and grenades" used against them and to "intimidation and thuggery". He says: "The ousted dictator decided to kill peaceful demonstrators."
10.52am: Another lawyer representing victims says that after today's court hearing, Hosni Mubarak, who has been in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, should be taken to Torah prison, where many other members of his regime including his sons are being held.
10.54am: Jack Shenker writes from Cairo. He says the centre of the city is pretty much a ghost town at the moment. Some of that is because it's Ramadan at the moment, when the streets are always quieter than normal, but it's also because there are so many people huddled around rickety TV sets in alleyway cafes or standing outside the windows of electronic shops staring at the screens within.
Many have been commentating on the fact that Mubarak is on a stretcher, with most dismissing it as a naked plea for sympathy (the 83-year-old seems perfectly able to prop himself up and put his hands behind his head, so it's not clear why he's not just in a wheelchair).
Not everyone is happy though. "It's good to see the others there, but the sight of a man who once led the biggest nation in the Middle East now lying in a bed behind bars - that's really strange," Reda Tohami Ibrahim told me as we watched proceedings in a side street. Others around him also appeared in a state of shock - though there was no shortage of bawdy laughter when the camera appeared to catch the deposed dictator picking his nose.
Now that the dramatic moment of Mubarak's first appearance is over with, thoughts are turning to what will actually happen inside the courtroom. The day seems likely to be consumed with procedural arguments by the phalanx of lawyers on both sides, and it seems highly possible that the beleaguered judge (who is struggling to keep order) may accept the defence's call for an adjournment. The biggest drama may prove to be outside the courtroom, where scattered clashes between between police and pro-Mubarak supporters are continuing.
10.56am: A prosecutor says Hosni Mubarak illegally acquired five villas worth 39m Egyptian pounds (£4m) for his sons and himself.
He refers to 2m sq km of land acquired in Sharm el-Sheikh.
By agreement and collusion he agreed with an official public servant to obtain without right benefits from his position.
10.58am: "I deny all these charges and accusations categorically," Hosni Mubarak says from his stretcher.
11.00am: Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, also deny the charges.
11.03am: Jack Shenker writes from Cairo:
Hugely emotional moment as prosecutor reads out the charges against Hosni Mubarak. Much of it may be legalese, but this (by no means all-encompassing) litany of crimes committed by Mubarak against Egypt and its people is, for many, the ultimate vindication after 30 years of dictatorship - and six months of ongoing revolution. When the names of some of those killed in the pro-change uprising were stated, some broke into tears. Mubarak spoke for the first time to confirm his presence, and deny all the charges against him.
11.20am: Al-Jazeera's Twitter feed has some intriguing details from the trial this morning.
Lawyer for slain protesters asks for CDs of footage of the uprising, including from Al Jazeera.
One lawyer said Mubarak and sons had never had a criminal file created, pulls out ink pad, demands they be fingerprinted.
Lawyer for protesters wants to call in security snipers to interrogate them about who gave orders.
A video image taken from Egyptian state TV showing the sons of Hosni Mubarak, Alaa Mubarak (left) and Gamal Mubarak in court in Cairo today. Photograph: AP _
11.22am: A lawyer for victims has called for various other people to be summoned to appear in court. They included the head of the Egyptian telecom company NTRA the head of Egyptian state TV and the head of Nile News.
The excellent Daily News Egypt Twitter feed also says a lawyer has requested that Muhammad Tantawi, the head of the armed forces and de facto head of state, should be called. The lawyer has also asked for a list of officers on duty on 25 to 28 January with a view to establishing their culpability and for a list of telephone call records between defendants.
Streaming Live by Ustream
11.25am: Here is a live stream from the court.
_
11.28am: Jack Shenker writes from Cairo:
Drama as prosecuting lawyers name Egypt's telecommunication companies (Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat) regarding their behaviour during the anti-government uprising. The Guardian has reported before on the controversy over these multinational corporations shutting down their networks at the height of the demonstrations.
11.32am: My colleagues on the video desk send this video of this morning's proceedings.
11.33am: While the eyes of the world are on the court room in Cairo, it has been reported in Israel that Egypt's Middle East neighbour and ally offered Hosni Mubarak asylum but he turned it down.
Mubarak turned down the offer from former industry, trade and labour minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer "because he was a patriot" the legislator told Army Radio Wednesday.
At the height of the uprising that eventually forced Mubarak to step down, he refused to consider leaving the country, stating, "I will die in Egypt."
Ben-Eliezer was instrumental in closing the highly controversial natural gas deal with Egypt. Mubarak's opponents charge that he sold Israel gas at a cheap price and pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars in the deal.
One of the charges faced by Mubarak relates to him allegedly facilitating below-market gas sales to Israel.
11.35am: A lawyer from the Egyptian treasury has requested 1bn Egyptian pounds (£102,427,578) from the accused to serve as compensation for the loss of life and the damage to property on an interim basis.
11.37am: Another lawyer has bizarrely claimed that it is not Hosni Mubarak in the dock but a clone - the real former president having died in 2004. The lawyer requested a DNA test to establish the true identity of the man standing trial.
11.40am: Apparently there are 30 lawyers in the courtroom and another 130 outside, who were denied admission.
11.42am: Sultan Al Qassemi, a commentator on the Arab world, tweets the following updates.
Lawyer requesting compensation from accused for damage to Egypt's security because "God said in the Qur'an that Egypt is a safe place"
Judge Ahmed Rifaat got fed up and told all lawyers to sit down "now". "Leave the mic and go sit, all of you"
11.50am: The court has adjourned again, bringing a close to a chaotic - and at times frankly bizarre - session.
Before the adjournment, Mubarak's lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, requested that 1,631 witnesses be heard in court, raising the prospect of a very lengthy trial.
It is unclear at present whether the trial has been adjourned just for a short break or for the day. We'll have another update from Jack Shenker in Cairo shortly.
11.52am: The Local Co-ordinating Committees, which report on and organise protests in Syria, say that in Hama tanks are shelling the houses and throwing bombs into them. "Clouds of smoke hang over the city, along with fires."
My colleagues on the video desk send these clips of amateur footage of the attacks on Hama.
11.55am: Court officials said the court was adjourning for "deliberations" this time, Jack Shenker reports from Cairo. The last break was called a "recess". They gave no more details, so it is still unclear how long this adjournment will last.
11.59am: Hosni Mubarak will be held in the police academy hospital for the rest of the trial rather than going back to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian state news agency is reporting.
12.08pm: Nour Ali, the Guardian's Damascus correspondent (who works under a pseudonym for security reasons), writes:
Syrians have paid careful attention to the fortunes of other Arab states since the start of the pro-democracy uprisings. Activists were inspired by the toppling of Tunisia's Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, and the idea that change could also come to Syria was given extra impetus by the fall of another seemingly unassailable strongman: Hosni Mubarak.
The start of his trial is being closely watched. Posters on Facebook have described it as a great moment and written of their hope to eventually see Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, in a similar dock. "We are not sure the court is sincere, but it is a great moment to see Mubarak have to answer," said one young man in Damascus. "It is very good - we need justice. Even if he is old, he should not get away with it," said another.
More than 1,600 people have been killed in Syria since protests began, and thousands more have been detained, but the regime's fierce crackdown has failed to stop growing calls for Assad to eventually face justice. The regime has made a show of reining in a handful of officials: the president's cousin and business tycoon Rami Makhlouf announced that he would step back from business. Atif Najib, another cousin of Assad and the former political security chief in Deraa, where protests began, has been put under a travel ban. But no members of the army or security forces - which have been accused of serious human rights abuses - have been called to account.
State media, which cheered Mubarak's exit due to deteriorated relations with Egypt in recent years, has so far remained silent on his trial.
12.12pm: Al-Jazeera is reporting that a business associate of Mubarak's, Hussein Salem, is also on trial. He is charged with corruption and is being tried in absentia.
Former interior minister Habib El-Adly is already serving 12 years for money laundering and profiteering.
12.16pm: Jack Shenker reports from Cairo that it seems likely the judge will return – whether to continue proceedings or to announce a formal adjournment (for example, for a week or month) we don't know yet.
12.37pm: Here is a summary of what has happened so far today.
Egypt
• Hosni Mubarak, the deposed former president of Egypt, has appeared in court in Cairo charged with killing demonstrators during the uprising against him earlier this year, profiteering by abusing his position of power, and exporting gas to Israel for prices lower than international market rates. He faces sentences ranging from five years in prison to the death penalty. He denied all the charges against him.
• Mubarak appeared behind a cage in the court, lying on a stretcher, apparently due to ill health. He will reportedly be held in the police academy hospital for the rest of the trial rather than going back to Sharm el-Sheikh.
• A lawyer requested that Muhammad Tantawi, the head of the armed forces and de facto head of state, be called. The behaviour of Egypt's telecommunications companies, Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat, during the uprising against Mubarak has been raised in court. Vodafone and other mobile phone companiesn were criticised for following Egyptian government orders and implementing a communications blackout at the height of the revolution. A lawyer for the victims called for people including the head of the Egyptian telecom company NTRA, the head of Egyptian state TV and the head of Nile News to appear in court. A lawyer also requested that Muhammad Tantawi, the head of the armed forces and de facto head of state, be called, as well as Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former intelligence chief.
• The trial has at times been chaotic and even bizarre. One lawyer claimed it was not Mubarak in the dock, but a clone, the real president having died in 2004. He asked for a DNA test to be carried out. Mubarak's lawyer, Ferid el-Deeb, has asked for 1,631 witnesses to be called. Another lawyer requested compensation from Mubarak for damage to Egypt's security because "God said in the Qur'an that Egypt is a safe place". A lawyer from the Egyptian treasury asked for 1bn Egyptian pounds (£102,427,578) in compensation from Mubarak. Another lawyer said Mubarak and his sons had never had a criminal file created, pulled out an ink pad and demanded they be fingerprinted. There were 30 lawyers in the courtroom and the judge was asked to admit another 130 waiting outside.
• Also on trial are Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal, charged with profiteering, Hussein Salem, a business associate of Mubarak's charged with corruption and being tried in absentia, former interior minister Habib El-Adly, charged with the murder and attempted murder of protesters, and six police officers or interior ministry officials, also charged with murder and attempted murder.
• There were skirmishes outside between pro- and anti-Mubarak activists and police, with reports of arrests, rock-throwing and injuries.
• The trial has been adjourned and it is unclear when it will restart.
Syria
• Tanks are occupying the main central square in Hama in the fourth day of attacks on the city. All communications have reportedly been cut off. There are reports that tanks are heavily shelling houses, security forces throwing bombs into residences, and there is heavy gunfire. The government has been accused of taking the opportunity of the distraction of the Mubarak trial to continue its attacks. The UN security council is due to reconvene today to continue discussing what – if any – action to take against Syria.
12.44pm: Jack Shenker sends more from Cairo:
Amid chaotic scenes in the makeshift courthouse, with lawyers shouting over each other to get the judge's attention and running street battles raging outside between supporters and opponents of the toppled president, the sight of Hosni Mubarak lying impassive as a prosecutor read out some of the names of those killed by his security forces is likely to be one of the defining images of this year's ongoing political unrest in the Arab world.
The spectacle was aired live on state television, bringing much of the capital to a standstill as Egyptians huddled around TV sets and watched their former leader in the dock. It was the first time Mubarak had appeared on television since 10 February, when he gave a defiant speech to the nation refusing to resign. He fled Cairo the following day.
"I am delighted that I see them in a cage," Saeeda Hassan Abdel-Raouf, the mother of a 22-year-old protester who was among those killed in the uprising, told reporters. "I feel that my son's soul is finally starting to be at rest and that his blood will cool."
Mubarak was taken from the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh by military helicopter earlier this morning, arriving in the courthouse at 10am local time. Despite the judge's insistence that anybody disrupting proceedings would face an automatic 24-hour prison sentence, the trial regularly descended into confusion as lawyers put forward various technical arguments regarding legal aspects of the case.
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have warned that Mubarak's prosecution must be conducted fairly. "This trial presents a historic opportunity for Egypt to hold a former leader and his inner circle to account for crimes committed during their rule," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"But if the trial is going to be a meaningful break with Egypt's record of impunity, it must be both fair and transparent – justice demands no less. Not only must the trial be fair but it must be seen to be fair, not least by the families of those who died during the protests."
Although the first day was dominated by legalese, it soon became clear that those expecting a swift verdict would be disappointed. Mubarak's prosecution file is believed to run to over 12,000 pages, and his defence announced plans to call over a thousand witnesses. It appears likely that the case will be adjourned, possibly until next month.
12.46pm: Brian Whitaker, the Guardian's former Middle East editor, has written about the Mubarak trial at Comment is free.
Let us hope that this will not simply be a show trial. The important thing ... is not so much humiliation or punishment as accountability – bringing the corruption and misdeeds of the old regime into the daylight. The crimes need to be exposed in meticulous detail so that new boundaries can be set for acceptable behaviour in government. The usual kind of rhetorical speeches favoured by Egyptian lawyers will not help much in that.
12.51pm: Chris Stephen writes from Misrata about Libyan reaction to Mubarak trial so far. He says the overwhelming feeling seems to be one of relief.
"This is good for Libya; it shows the Egyptian revolution is working," said Ayman Suleiman, a retired police colonel.
Egypt's decision to open its border to supplies has been a lifeline for rebels in eastern Libya, and the sight of the former dictator in the dock is seen as proof positive that he will not be coming back to power.
"Mubarak and [Muammar] Gaddafi were like this," said hotel owner Khalid Feton, putting his two forefingers together. "If Mubarak were still in power, we would have no chance."
Most here think the fates of democratic forces in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are interwoven, the participants in the so-called Arab spring depending on each other for survival.
"There's no doubt that the Tunisian revolutions and the Egyptian revolutions broke the fear for people here," said journalist and human rights activist Hassan Al Amin, who returned last month to his home city after 28 years in exile in London. "Human rights for me is the most important issue now, for all of us."
The city is almost empty each morning with the onset of Ramadan, but Misrata's war crimes investigators were in their office – ironically, the former headquarters of the secret police – to watch the trial carried live on rebel television networks.
"We would like to see Gaddafi in such a situation," said attorney Mufta Shikmani. "You put a dictator on trial and you judge him: in the Arab world that is really something."
Others think Egyptians are being too harsh on a dictator who they say stepped aside rather than subject Egypt to the kind of all-out war engulfing Libya.
"I don't like this process," said Hind Khalef, a hotel manager. "Mubarak did not do like Gaddafi," she said. "He resisted for two weeks and then he went away; he did not stay to fight the people."
Rebel fighter Mohammed El Mabruk, watching the trial before heading to the western front line, said Egyptians had not given Mubarak credit for his achievements.
"Go around Cairo and see the tall buildings; they were built with Mubarak in power. Then look around here. Gaddafi was in power for 42 years, but do you see one tall building?"
12.52pm: The trial of Mubarak has now resumed. The judge is saying the trial will continue tomorrow.
12.52pm: Click refresh to see live coverage at the top of this page.
12.54pm: Hosni Mubarak will be placed in hospital in Cairo and arranged for doctors to treat him, including an oncology, or cancer, specialist. The other accused will be incarcerated. The court is adjourned.
12.55pm: Part of the case was adjourned until tomorrow, part until 15 August.
12.56pm: Mubarak will not be kept in the police academy hospital, but in another local Cairo hospital.
12.59pm: Here are the names of the six police also charged with murder and attempted murder (thanks to Jack Shenker):
• Ahmed Mohamed Ramzy Abdel Rashid
• Adly Mostafa Abdel Rahman Fayed
• Hassan Abdel Rahman Yusuf
• Ismail El-Shaer
• Osama Yusuf El-Marasy
• Omar Abdel Aziz Faramawy
1.03pm: Jack Shenker confirms that Mubarak's trial will continue on 15 August. Former interior minister Habib El-Adly's will continue tomorrow.
1.04pm: Here's a gallery of the day's events in Cairo.
1.23pm: The Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, writes about the significance of Hosni Mubarak's trial for the wider Arab world, its revolutions and strongmen:
Not only Egyptians watched in fascination as Hosni Mubarak and sons appeared in the dock charged with crimes against their own people: broadcast live across the Arab world, the court appearance was an electrifying moment for millions.
Still it poses troubling questions — about the future of Egypt beyond this mesmerising scene; and for other authoritarian countries caught up in an Arab Spring whose early promise has faded and which now face bloodshed and uncertainty ...
Mubarak is not the first Arab autocrat to face justice — but he is doing so, crucially, because of the will and the sacrifices of his own former subjects. Saddam Hussein was held to account for far greater crimes but the trial and execution of the Iraqi tyrant after the US invasion was flawed by both circumstances and outcome — a hurried execution that looked and felt like an act of sectarian revenge.
Will other Arab leaders end up in the dock? ...
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi is wanted for crimes against humanity by the international criminal court — but manoeuvring over the stalemate between his regime and the Nato-backed opposition now officially includes the prospect of a quiet retirement in some remote desert oasis — a poor outcome for those of his own people who suffered under his 40 year-rule.
Perhaps the biggest question hangs over Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has offered some reforms but is defending his regime with a savagery his late father Hafez would have recognised. An estimated 150 people have been killed by Assad's security forces in the last three days alone, many of them in Hama, scene of a notorious massacre in 1982. Violence continued as in Syria the Mubarak trial was getting under way in Cairo — a handy diversion from the business of ensuring that one of the worst of the Arab dictators lives to repress another day.
1.30pm: As those who attempted to suppress the Egyptian revolution are finally being brought to justice, some of those injured in the struggle for democracy are still recovering.
The Guardian has a video on Dr Muhammad Sharaf, who offers medical treatment and support to injured campaigners who the state is ill-equipped to help.
Sharaf is the founder of Heroes of 25 January Revolution, a charity dedicated to supporting injured survivors of the Egyptian revolution
1.48pm: This YouTube video is one of a number posted purporting to be of Syrian army tanks firing shells in Hama today.
2.00pm: The Italian navy says a missile launched from Libya landed harmlessly 2kn (1.2 miles) from an Italian warship sailing off the coast of the north African country, the Associated Press reports.
A spokesman, speaking under navy policy of anonymity, said the navy is trying to determine if it was launched on purpose against the Italian vessel. The Bersagliere is now being moved out of missile range as a precaution.
2.05pm: An interesting tweet from al-Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin suggests, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the Mubaraks still retain respect from at least some sections of the Egyptian military:
unbelievable walking out of courtroom alaa & gamal mubarak shaking hands w military! alaa covered the live camera w his hand #mubaraktrial
The former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, also shook hands with the military, according to Mohyeldin's al-Jazeera collegue, Rawya Rageh. She adds that Adly, Gamal and Alaa were all smiling.
2.21pm: A picture has been posted online of an Egyptian military officer, legs slightly bent (head ever so slightly bowed?), shaking hands with one of the defendants standing trial in Cairo as he left the courtroom.
2.40pm: Harriet Sherwood in Gaza City sends this post on reaction to the Mubarak trial among the Palestinians.
Despite the strong ties between Gaza and Egypt, and the close interest with which February's revolution was followed here, the start of Hosni Mubarak's trial did not generate huge excitement.
Some were surprised that it began at all, having expected some kind of deal to keep the former Egyptian president out of the dock. Others spoke of Mubarak's "humiliation" and suggested he would not receive a fair trial. And some said he deserved to be convicted for 30 years of tyrannical rule and that such a step would be of huge symbolic importance across the whole Arab world.
Many Gazans are disappointed that the Egyptian uprising has not led to deeper change, and it has not had a bigger impact on their own circumstances. Despite reopening the Rafah border crossing with much fanfare earlier this year, the Egyptian authorities have significantly tightened the numbers crossing and frustration is building among Gazans wishing to leave.
2.50pm: Saleh al-Hamoui, who is in Hama and from the Syrian Revolution Co-ordination Union, provided al-Jazeera with an update on what has been happening in the city today:
At 5am exactly, all means of communication, internet, cell phones, landlines is blocked and the army, security forces and Shabiba, began a wide operation in the city …
I called my friend on a satellite phone, who is here in the Orontes Square ... He told me the security forces and army are now in Orontes Square, shooting, firing on everything …
We don't go outside ... because snipers are everywhere and shooting everything they see ... The humanitarian situation is very bad here now.
3.22pm: The stalemate in Yemen and events in other Arab countries have seen coverage of events in the north African country fall below the radar recently. But events there have caused a humanitarian crisis. In Southern Yemen up to 184,000 people have sought refuge in schools and temporary homes, following the recent fighting between government forces and tribal groups.
Humanitarian aid worker Kitka Goyol has just spent two weeks working in Yemen with the aid agency Oxfam. He said:
I travelled down to the port of Aden, where our local partner organisation, the Yemeni Women's Union, is helping thousands of displaced people who are now living in 20 schools. This was just before the recent car bomb attack, in which a British national was killed.
It's hard to imagine what it is like to actually live in a school. People are sleeping on mattresses on the classroom floor; there is still writing on the blackboard. Children are playing where they can. The heat is stifling – it's just under 40C in Aden at this time of year.
Oxfam has been helping by rehabilitating the school toilets, distributing hygiene products such as soap and advising people on personal hygiene.
Many of the people living in the schools have been through a traumatic journey to get there. They have fled fighting and unrest in their hometown of Abayan. They have been through so much but now they just want to go home.
Oxfam's humanitarian co-ordinator Kitka Goyol with Zykra Abdullah, aged 11, who is temporarily living in a school in Aden after being recently displaced with her family
Asma, a pseudonym for a woman who has sought refuge in a school, said:
We hid for two days while our hometown, approximately 40km from Aden, was bombed. My husband was really worried about us as many houses were damaged due to the shelling, and we were running low on food and water. We lived in total darkness due to the constant power cuts and we were drowning in humidity as the temperature was 45 degrees.
One night amidst the sounds of shelling, we finally escaped. It was difficult to run quickly – I dragged my seven-year-old son behind me and held on to my pregnant belly to stop the constant kicking of my unborn child. My husband ran in front of me, and I opened my eyes wide desperately trying to follow his shadow. I called his name from time to time to make sure he was still there.
We couldn't afford to take a bus, so we decided to take a risk and use the very little amount of fuel we had to start our small boat. After about two hours, we arrived on the beach of Aden. It was still night but we could no longer hear the sound of shelling. Under the dim lights of the quiet city, I could finally see the faces of my family. My husband was exhausted and my son's tears were dried on his face. We walked in silence - I was still in shock and followed my husband without a word.
We finally arrived here - an abandoned school – where there are many other people who have fled their homes ... 'I'm afraid that my baby will die here due to the lack of ventilation and high temperatures. There is a shortage of drinking water, and the school toilets are in a bad condition.
I want to deliver my baby in a secure and healthy place… I still hope I can return home so my baby can grow up and be safe.
3.27pm: Trade volume on the Egyptian stock exchange hit a 10-year low because traders were glued to the Mubarak trial, the Egyptian Gazette reports.
It also says the country's benchmark index, EGX 30, fell by 0.9%.
Marwa Hamed, a trader at Wathika Brokerage, was quoted by the Egyptian state news ageny MENA as saying: "Volumes were negatively affected by the trial, which was televised live. It distracted investors during the trading session."
3.44pm: Here's footage of the former Egyptian interior minister, Habib al-Adly, beaming and shaking hands with members of the military as he leaves the court today.
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3.52pm: My colleagues on the video desk send this video of reaction to the Mubarak trial across the Middle East.
One young man in Cairo says the trial proves the armed forces are "partners in the revolution, not just protectors". But a Cairo woman says she feels sorry for him and all the charges should be dropped. Another man in Cairo says anyone feeling sympathy for the former president should watch videos of police torture and see how they feel after that.
In Jerusalem, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a Labour member of the Israeli Knesset, says this is a "difficult and sad day", because until his ousting Mubarak was considered "the leader of the Arab world". He was someone who "to his credit, maintained security in the Middle East".
3.56pm: A postgraduate student at City University London is conducting some research into how people read and interact with live coverage on guardian.co.uk. and would like to recruit some readers to interview over the telephone about their experiences. If you are interested in taking part please fill in the form here.
4.03pm: Thousands of Yemenis gathered in "Change Square", Sana'a, today to watch Hosni Mubarak's trial, Catherine Shakdam reports. The Yemeni government tried to keep the event hidden from the people by cutting off electricity and enforcing a media blackout. But citizens in the capital powered up their generators to watch the trial. "I hope that [president Ali Abdullah] Saleh and his family are watching…it is a taste of things to come", said, Moussa Thabet a pro-democracy activist.
Saleh left the country in June after an assassination attempt and has been receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia. Last month he appeared on TV with his hands bandaged and said he had had eight operations. It is unclear if he will try to return to Yemen.
4.18pm: Libyan rebels say they have fought off an attack by pro-Gaddafi forces around Zlitan, 100 miles (160km) east of Tripoli, contradicting government claims of victory. "We allowed them to get closer to our positions before we fired heavily at them to repel their advances. Our forces have not moved back and we have kept our ground," one local commander told Reuters, asking not to be named. Moussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Libyan government, said the rebels had been "defeated at the gates of Zlitan" and were pushed back to Dafniya, to the east. Hospital sources said no injured fighters had arrived on Wednesday, so the front appeared to be quiet.
Several shops in rebel-held Misrata were showing live footage of the Mubarak trial with some shop assistants glued to the television set.
"Do you think we'll ever see [Muammar] Gaddafi like this one day?" One asked his colleague. "God willing" he replied.
4.26pm: In Syria, the Local Co-ordination Committees, which report on and organise protests, have put up a number of Facebook updates.
In Hama, they report random shelling of buildings, gunfire in Haidieh and Manakh since 5am, and tanks in the city in a number of locations. Shelling is concentrated on the Janoub Mala'ab area and Manakh, where most of the demonstrations have taken place. "People are deserting the city and are faced by live gunfire from security forces and army men if they don't respond to orders to go back inside. A building and many houses have collapsed due to shelling."
In Damascus, they say a campaign of arrests is still in effect in the Zabadani area. "The security forces close out districts completely and successively and then they storm people's houses to arrest them."
They post this video of tanks entering the Albayyada neighbourhood of Homs today. It cannot be independently verified.
The LCC say a nine-year-old child, Bara'a Mahmod Qabro, was killed in Latakia yesterday. In Douma, they say 50,000 people are marching at the funeral of Fahed Adnan Khuja, who was killed after torture by security forces. See video below, which we cannot independently verify.
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4.39pm: Here is a summary of today's key events.
Egypt
• Hosni Mubarak, the deposed former president of Egypt, appeared in court in Cairo charged with killing demonstrators during the uprising against his rule earlier this year, profiteering by abusing his position of power, and exporting gas to Israel for prices lower than international market rates. He faces sentences ranging from five years in prison to the death penalty. He denied all the charges against him. The trial has been adjourned until 15 August.
• Mubarak appeared behind a cage in the court, lying on a stretcher, apparently due to ill health. He will be detained until the next hearing in a Cairo hospital, where he will receive treatment from a cancer statement.
• During today's hearing a lawyer requested that Muhammad Tantawi, the head of the armed forces and de facto head of state, be called to court. The behaviour of Egypt's telecommunications companies, Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat, during the uprising against Mubarak was also raised. Vodafone and other mobile phone companies were criticised for following Egyptian government orders and implementing a communications blackout at the height of the revolution. A lawyer for the victims called for people including the head of the Egyptian telecom company NTRA, the head of Egyptian state TV and the head of Nile News to appear in court. A lawyer also requested that Muhammad Tantawi, the head of the armed forces and de facto head of state, be called, as well as Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former intelligence chief.
• The hearing was at times chaotic and even bizarre. One lawyer claimed it was not Mubarak in the dock, but a clone, the real president having died in 2004. He asked for a DNA test to be carried out. Mubarak's lawyer, Ferid el-Deeb, asked for 1,631 witnesses to be called. Another lawyer requested compensation from Mubarak for damage to Egypt's security because "God said in the Qur'an that Egypt is a safe place". A lawyer from the Egyptian treasury asked for 1bn Egyptian pounds (£102,427,578) in compensation from Mubarak. Another lawyer said Mubarak and his sons had never had a criminal file created, pulled out an ink pad and demanded they be fingerprinted. There were 30 lawyers in the courtroom and the judge was asked to admit another 130 waiting outside.
• Also on trial are Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal, charged with profiteering, Hussein Salem, a business associate of Mubarak's charged with corruption and being tried in absentia, former interior minister Habib El-Adly, charged with the murder and attempted murder of protesters, and six police officers, also charged with murder and attempted murder. El-Adly's trial continues tomorrow.
• There were skirmishes outside between pro- and anti-Mubarak activists and police, with reports of arrests, rock-throwing and injuries.
• Trade volume on the Egyptian stock exchange hit a 10-year low because traders were glued to the Mubarak trial.
Syria
• Tanks are occupying the main central square in Hama in the fourth day of attacks on the city. All communications have reportedly been cut off. There are reports that tanks are heavily shelling houses, security forces throwing bombs into residences, and there is heavy gunfire. The government has been accused of taking the opportunity of the distraction of the Mubarak trial to continue its attacks. There are reports of tanks in Homs and that a nine-year-old child killed in Latakia yesterday. The UN security council is due to reconvene today to continue discussing what – if any – action to take against Syria.
Libya
• The rebels say they have fought off an attack by pro-Gaddafi forces around Zlitan, 100 miles (160km) east of Tripoli, contradicting government claims of victory. The Italian navy says a missile launched from Libya landed harmlessly 1.2 miles from an Italian warship.
4.56pm: That's it for the day. Thanks for all your comments. Join us again tomorrow.
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
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