CAIRO: Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, accused of corruption and involvement in killing protesters, went on trial Wednesday, delighting those who overthrew him and ringing an alarm bell for other autocrats around the Arab world.

In a scene that Egyptians would have found unthinkable just eight months ago, the man who ruled them for 30 years was wheeled behind the bars of a courtroom cage in a hospital bed to hear charges that could carry the death penalty.

Mubarak is the first Arab leader to stand trial in person since popular uprisings swept the Middle East this year.
His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also in the defendants’ cage alongside former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and six senior security officials.

In the courtroom, a prosecutor read the charges against Mubarak – that he was an accomplice along with his then-interior minister in the “intentional and premeditated murder of peaceful protesters” and that he and his sons received gifts from a prominent businessman in return for guaranteeing him a lowered price in a land deal with the state.

“Yes, I am here,” Mubarak said from his bed, raising his hand slightly when the judge asked him to identify himself and enter a plea. “I deny all these accusations completely,” he said into a microphone, wagging his finger. His sons also pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor also said Mubarak had authorized Adli to use live ammunition to quell demonstrations during an 18-day revolt that forced his ouster on Feb. 11.
About 850 people were killed during the unrest. A lawyer acting for families of the dead demanded execution for Adli.

A military council led by a long-serving defense minister, Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, took over when Mubarak quit. It has promised a transition to democracy in the Arab world’s most populous nation – a process far from complete.

Defense lawyers asked for Tantawi, former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and about 1,600 others to testify as witnesses, in a move that could embarrass Egypt’s new military rulers.
The military had tried to distance itself from Mubarak, without being able to silence critics who accused it of seeking to shield its former commander by delaying his trial.

Many Egyptians still revere the army but some protesters say it must be reformed, faulting its handling of the transition and its vast economic interests in Egypt.
One army officer said Mubarak’s trial proved the military’s good intentions. “This step unites the army and the people in building a better system, free of corruption,” he said.

Protesters had camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for three weeks in July seeking a swifter trial for Mubarak and demanding that the military speed up democratic reforms.
After the session, Judge Ahmad Refaat said Mubarak would be moved to a Cairo hospital, instead of the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has been since April.

He said Mubarak would have to attend the next court session, set for Aug. 15 and that the court would reconvene Aug. 4 in Adli’s case.
Television pictures show the former interior minister leaving the court building smiling and greeting officers who were guarding him before getting into a police truck that took him back to prison.

The emotions swirling around the trial were on display outside the heavily secured Cairo police academy where the trial was held. A crowd of Mubarak supporters and hundreds of relatives of slain protesters and other Mubarak opponents massed at the gates, scuffling sporadically as they watched the proceedings on a giant screen. They threw stones and bottles at each other while riot police with shields and helmets tried to keep them apart. Officials said 53 people were hurt, most lightly.

About 50 supporters pounded on the steel gate trying to get into the compound chanting, “We Love you, Mubarak!” until police charged at them with electrified batons and dispersed them. “We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak,” they screamed. Some of the supporters had bandaged heads from beatings, and many wore T-shirts with the slogan, “I am Egyptian and I reject the insulting of our leader.”

But the father of a slain protester, among those sweltering in the heat outside on the third day of fasting in the Muslim month of Ramadan, was ecstatic. “We are here to tell Hosni, ‘Happy Ramadan, congratulations on your new cage,’” said Mohammad Mustafa al-Aqad.

The trial, televised around the world, transfixed Egyptians all over the country and other Arabs, many of whom have spent their lives under authoritarian systems shaken by this year’s “Arab Spring.”
Ahmad Farghali, 24, among protesters who had gathered outside the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital before Mubarak was flown to Cairo, said he couldn’t believe he would see the president in a cage. “It was beyond my wildest dreams,” he said.

“This is the dream of Egyptians, to see him like this, humiliated like he humiliated them for the last 30 years,” said Ghada Ali, the mother of a 17-year-old girl in the city of Alexandria who was shot to death during the crackdown.
“I want to see their heart explode like my daughter’s heart exploded from their single bullet,” Ali said, breaking down in sobs.

The United States – a close Mubarak ally for many years – said the trial was a matter for the Egyptian people. “We’ll obviously follow the trial closely. It’s very important that it be a transparent and fair process and we have confidence that they can do that,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.