Egypt, Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest – live updates

The toppled Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, is due to go on trial to face charges of corruption and unlawful killing 9.07am: The judge begins by calling out the names of the accused. They reply in turn “I am present, your honour.” 9.03am: Hosni Mubarak’s two sons, Gamal and Alaa, have arrived in the metal cage in the Egyptian courtroom as has the former dictator, lying on a stretcher. He appeared to be picking his nose. The judge is opening the proceedings. 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 access by the security services. He said the headlines in Egyptian papers this morning included “Judgement 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 derence 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 general 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 underway. _ 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. 8.25am: 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 armored personnel carriers. 8.19am: Welcome to Middle East Live. It is an 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. Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Egypt Hosni Mubarak Syria Bashar Al-Assad Libya Muammar Gaddafi Yemen Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.