Lawyers Lash Out During Mubarak Trial

Lawyers astounded Egyptian courtroom officials on Wednesday when they rushed to address the judge presiding over the cases of former President Hosni Mubarak, his sons, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six of his assistants. There were 85 lawyers representing 414 of the victims’ families, although it is reported that at least half of the ‘lawyers’ weren’t official representatives.

One lawyer exclaimed that Mubarak was a serial killer; another asserted that the ‘real’ Mubarak had actually died in 2004 and that the man laying atop a bed was an imposter. “The main problem is that the hearing was attended by many victims’ lawyers, who don’t have the necessary experience to deal with such case. If this issue isn’t rectified before the second hearing then this will hinder any chances of indicting Mubarak,” said Appeals Court lawyer Tarek Awady. Awady also reported that some more experienced lawyers are attempting to take the victims’ cases to ensure that all of the evidence against Mubarak is demonstrated to the court.

Gamal Eid, director for the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, proposed that there should be “further coordination between the lawyers, and expelling the lawyers who do not truly represent the victims,” to make the rest of the case run smoothly and as expected.