Doubts Grow in Egypt About Trial for Mubarak

Source: The New York Times

CAIRO — Former President Hosni Mubarak is officially scheduled to go to trial in 10 days on charges that could carry the death penalty. But the question preoccupying Cairo right now is not whether he will be found guilty, but this: What will happen when his trial is almost certainly postponed?

In anticipatory anger, some are already planning protests. Setting the trial date, activists say, was just an element of political theater, part of the ritual of superficial concessions that the military-led transitional government has made after each big new demonstration in Tahrir Square.

“The signs show that there is no intention to try him,” said Mahmoud el-Khodeiry, a former senior judge who a few months ago participated in a mock trial of Mr. Mubarak in the square. He is so sure, Mr. Khodeiry said, that he is planning to travel to Sharm el Sheikh, where Mr. Mubarak is under guard at a hospital, to participate in a protest scheduled for Aug. 5. The announced trial date, for the record, is Aug. 3.

No one expects it to start then, said Sayed Salmony, 26, an informal master of ceremonies in Tahrir who leads chants demanding the trial. “It will definitely be postponed,” he said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/world/middleeast/24egypt.html