First defense session in Mubarak’s trial on Tuesday

Cairo's Criminal Court starts, Tuesday morning, to hear the first arguments from the defense of former Egyptian president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Gamal and Alaa, his former Interior Minister Habib El-Adli, and 6 of his top aides, on charges of killing protesters and wasting public money. Defense lawyer Farid el-Deeb is to reply to the accusations addressed to Mubarak and his sons by the prosecution and the civil rights plaintiff attorneys. Mubarak’s lawyer is expected to argue that the ex-president agreed with Sameh Fahmi, his former Oil Minister who is currently on trial in a different court, to assign the issue of selling and exporting natural gas to East Mediterranean Gas company (EMG), which is represented by fugitive businessman Hussein Salem, who is major shareholder in the business. Tuesday's court session will be attended by the team of Kuwaiti defense lawyers. The defense of Habib El-Adli is scheduled to start once the Mubarak defense argument has been put forward.