verbalresistance:

Egypt’s toppled president declines a chance to address the court in the last session after six months of hearings.

If convicted Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs could receive the death penalty [AFP]

The trial of Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president, has entered its final day of hearings, with the judge expected to deliver his verdict later.

Mubarak turned down a chance to address the court in the last session on Wednesday, the prosecution has called for the death penalty. If sentenced, Mubarak would be able to appeal, according to judicial sources.

If convicted Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs could receive the death penalty for ordering the deaths of protesters during the uprising that toppled Mubarak a year ago.

At Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors told Judge Ahmed Refaat that the medical wing of Cairo’s Tora prison was ready to receive Mubarak, state television reported, following mounting calls to move him from hospital to prison.

Adly addressed the court for more than an hour and a half, speaking of a “conspiracy” against Egypt, state television reported.

He defended himself and the police against the charge of murder, drawing applause from some police officers standing at the back of the courtroom.

Mubarak’s former security chief said that “foreigners” had killed the protesters, and that they had climbed on the rooftops of buildings and shot them.

Hezbollah and Hamas blamed

He blamed Hezbollah, a Lebanese political group, and Hamas, a Palestinian political group, for sending infiltrators, and said the plot against Egypt was continuing to this day.

Mubarak also shares the defendants’ cage with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, who face corruption charges along with their father.

The trial was supposed to be a historic moment when Mubarak is brought to justice by his people, but it has been widely criticised as little more than political theatre.

The case is legally weak, lawyers have said, charging that the prosecution has taken to the microphone to deliver sermons rather than hard evidence.

The trial itself, which began in August, has been plagued by interuptions in the form of a short investigation period, brief hearings, a three-month hiatus, incomplete testimonies and a speedy ending, the lawyers said.

Activists say they would have rather seen Mubarak tried for abuses and mismanagement committed during his 30 years in power than for events that took place during a few days of the uprising.

The governing Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has been the target of protesters’ anger in the past months over accusations of mismanagement and human rights abuses.

More than 850 people were killed during the 18 days of mass nationwide protests that ended Mubarak’s 30-year rule, thousands were injured.

Al Jazeera