Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi

"LandepNews"

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi

Hosni Mubarak’s trial continued on Saturday with the long-expected testimony of the military council ruler field marshal Hussein Tantawi, whose words can be referential for the question whether Mubarak ordered lethal crackdown on the protestors during the 18-day protests in January and February.
Soon after the deposition made by Tantawi, the trial was halted because lawyers demanded a change in the court and judges. Tantawi’s testimony was offered in a total press blackout, with journalists barred from the court, and forbidden to comment any leaked details of what the marshal said in the court.
Tantawi spoke for an hour, after which the lawyers representing the families of the 840 people slain in January and February demanded that the court and the judges be changed, probably because of what the leader of the army said in his deposition.
This demand is going to prolong the trial, since a higher court will have to decide on the legality of the demand. If the higher court accepts the demand, the trial will be resumed from the beginning with a new court and new judges.
If not, the trial will resume on October 30, with a statement of chief of staff Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Anan, the second-highest ranking officer of the army, whose testimony was planned for Saturday.
Tantawi’s testimony is considered by many essential for the course of the trial, since he is the one to know all the secrets of the former regime, and could say whether the former president is guilty as charged or not, or how were the last days of the regime.
As he was testifying, the people gathered in front of the Police Academy in Cairo, where the trial was being held, demanding: “Tantawi, tell the truth, is Mubarak a killer or not?”
Tantawi was supposed to testify at the beginning of September, but he demanded that his testimony be postponed to the final stages of the trial, in order, he said, to take the hit off the military which is now ruling the country temporarily and must deal with all the social problems a post-revolution era poses.
Mubarak is accused of having ordered the brutal crackdown on the people in Cairo and other major cities, and, if found guilty, he could face the death penalty. It is considered that many Egyptian expect this kind of ending to his trial.

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