Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Mubarak Trial Another Win for Tahrir Protesters

Analysis by Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

"...The Mubarak trial has done much to restore protesters' faith in the SCAF," Abdel Rahman Abu Zaid, founding member of the leftist-oriented Egyptian People's Party (as yet unlicensed), told IPS. "But the use of force against peaceful protesters is absolutely unacceptable in post-revolutionary Egypt."

Many protesters contend that the long-awaited trial never would have materialised without the intense popular pressure that manifested itself in Tahrir Square.....

Ayman Salamma, international law professor at Cairo University, described Mubarak's appearance in the steel-meshed defendant's cage as "a watershed for Egypt and the Arab world."

"This is the first time in modern history for a head of state to be tried by the people in a conventional court," Salaama told IPS, noting that the trial of overthrown Iraqi president Saddam Hussein - which culminated in the latter's alleged execution in 2006 - "was conducted not by the Iraqi public but by an occupying power."...."

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