Court arguments against Mubarak to begin

Prosecutors were told to begin presenting arguments against ousted leader Hosni Mubarak Tuesday amid speculation the ailing Egyptian president may be acquitted. "The judge surprised by announcing that the prosecution will plead its case for the next three days," plaintiff attorney Amir Salem told Daily News Egypt. "This indicates that the pace of the case is speeding up," he said, adding the trial could still last several months. Testimony presented so far has raised speculation among legal observers Mubarak will be found not guilty or receive a mild sentence, the newspaper reported. The speculation increased after a separate court Thursday acquitted five police officers on charges of killing five protesters in the uprising, the newspaper said. In the Mubarak trial Monday, lawyers for victims' families called for Egyptian armed forces Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Hafez Enan to testify. Enan is also deputy chairman of Egypt's ruling military council. Enan famously appeared before a crowd of anti-government protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square Feb. 10, 2011 -- the day before Mubarak's ouster -- and pledged to safeguard the people's demands and their security. Thousands of protesters roared in approval. The lawyers for victims' families asked for TV news footage from the uprising to be included as evidence, along with testimony from doctors who staffed field hospitals during the uprising. Mubarak, 83, detained at an army hospital outside Cairo since August, is being tried on charges of corruption and complicity in the killings of 840 unarmed protesters in the 18-day revolt that began Jan. 25, 2011, and ousted him Feb. 11. He could face the death penalty if convicted. No official has been convicted in the killings. Mubarak sons Alaa and Gamal are also standing trial on corruption charges. Ex-Interior Minister Habib al-Adly is charged in the protester killings -- he previously received a 12-year prison sentence for corruption. Mubarak confidante and business tycoon Hussein Salem, who fled the country, is being tried in absentia. Mubarak and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty and deny responsibility in the deaths. When testimony began in early September, the first five witnesses, all police officials, recanted what prosecutors said were initial statements about instructions from senior police officials to use live ammunition or other force against demonstrators. Prosecutors then called the country's military ruler, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and other members of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. In an hour of closed-door testimony, Tantawi insisted Mubarak never asked the army to shoot at protesters, contradicting his previous statement the army would not shoot at protesters because it refused Mubarak's orders to do so. Tuesday's proceedings were to take place as Egypt was to begin its third round of a parliamentary election. Islamist parties overwhelmingly won the first two rounds last month.