Egypt lays plans for venue for trial of ex-leader Mubarak

Associated Press

CAIRO

Hosni Mubarak’s trial will be set in a huge Cairo convention center with hundreds of seats for an audience, heavy security and a metal defendants’ cage large enough to hold the man who ruled Egypt unchallenged for three decades, his two sons and seven associates, judicial officials said Thursday.

Health Minister Amr Helmy said the 83-year-old Mubarak is well enough to be moved from a hospital in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he is under arrest, to Cairo. He will face charges of corruption and ordering the killings of protesters during the uprising that toppled him in February.

Protests have escalated recently clamoring for Mubarak and other former regime stalwarts to be brought to justice over the killings of protesters and other crimes over the years. Many activists say the ruling military council that took power from the ousted president — and is headed by Mubarak’s former defense minister — is dragging its feet on the prosecutions.

The plans for the trial venue show the judiciary wants to make it a public spectacle.