A court yesterday postponed the case against former Egyptian interior minister Habib al-Adli over the killing of protesters until next week so it would coincide with the start of the trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his sons, state media reported.
The case will be postponed until Wednesday next week, the state-owned Nile News reported. The trial of Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, who was once seen as a future president, over the killing of demonstrators starts on that date.
Adli is reviled by protesters after the police force he commanded fired live ammunition, teargas and water cannon to try to break up protests against Mubarak, who was forced out of office in February after 18 days of demonstrations. He has already been sentenced to 12 years on corruption charges.
Hundreds of protesters, including families of victims who died during the revolt, hurled stones at a convoy of vans taking Adli from court on after a judge delayed his murder trial.
Mubarak, 83, has been hospitalized since April, when he was first questioned. Sources said earlier this month his trial was likely to take place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he is in hospital, and not in Cairo.
Meanwhile, strained relations between Egyptian activists and the country’s military rulers appeared close to breaking point on Sunday after dozens of protesters were attacked by assailants during a rally in Cairo at the weekend.
The march on Saturday evening began from Tahrir Square, the heart of the revolution, and was heading toward Cairo’s defense ministry when it came under attack by armed baltagiya (thugs). The unidentified assailants appeared to be sympathetic to the ruling generals, who were a pillar of the old regime.
Thousands of placard-wielding and chanting protesters, who had approached the ministry in the Abbasyia District, were blocked en route by tanks and hundreds of soldiers stationed behind a makeshift barrier of metal frames and barbed wire. They found themselves trapped and were set upon by armed thugs wielding swords, knives and hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Among the protesters was Hossam El-Hamalawy, a prominent activist, who later wrote on his blog: “We stood our ground, demanding we pass. We were refused. The attack started. Young men carrying swords and knives flocked to our right, while others were stoning us from the side streets. Soldiers kept firing their machine guns into the air, to be followed later by a chopper circulating around our heads. It was a war zone in every sense of the word.”
Dozens were injured in the chaos, as they were showered with rocks hurled from rooftops, while others were hurt in the ensuing stampede. The injured, estimated to run into hundreds, were ferried to hospitals. It was reported that at least one journalist was attacked.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in