The first session of the historic trial against the ousted president of Egypt on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters began on Wednesday morning in Cairo. The ailing, 83-year-old Hosni Mubarak was laid on a hospital bed inside a cage of mesh and iron bars.
The scene, shown live on Egypt’s state TV, was the first images of the deposed leader since Feb. 10, the day before his fall when he gave a defiant speech refusing to resign.
Inside the cage, Mubarak craned his head up to see the proceedings, a sheet drawn up to his chest. His two sons – Gamal and Alaa, who are on trial with him – stood next to his bed, leaning over to talk with him. The elder Mr. Mubarak and his nine co-defendants, also including his former interior minister, all wore white prison uniforms.
The courtroom is divided. Relatives of the defendants sat in rows of seats near the cage. A fence running through the middle of the chamber divided them from the rest of the audience of around 300 people, including a few relatives of protesters killed in the uprising.
