CAIRO: A day after the start of Hosni Mubarak’s historic trial, seven of his co-defendants were back in the courtroom Thursday on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the uprising that toppled Egypt’s longtime president.
The hearing of former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six top police officials was broadcast live on Egyptian state television.

The seven first appeared in court Wednesday in the same defendants’ cage with Mubarak and his two sons - one-time heir apparent Gamal and businessman Alaa – in a related case that is tried by the same judge. The Mubaraks’ trial resumes Aug. 15.

Mubarak, Adly and the six police officials face the death penalty if convicted over the protesters’ deaths.
The three Mubaraks separately face corruption charges.
Adly was Mubarak’s interior minister for more than a decade, in charge of the country’s 500,000-strong security forces. Some of the worst rights abuses during Mubarak’s 29 years in office are blamed on Adly and his police force.

Thursday’s hearing was entirely taken up by procedural matters, with Judge Ahmed Rifaat opening boxes of evidence as defense lawyers looked on. The evidence included operational police logs covering the time of the uprising – Jan. 25 to Feb. 11 – with details about the movement of forces, issuing firearms and ammunition.
They also included several weapons and ammunition rounds. One piece of evidence was the blood-soaked jacket of one of the 850 protesters killed during the 18-day uprising. The judge gave the lawyers a week to examine the evidence before hearings resume Aug. 14.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt’s military ruler, will most likely testify in the trial of Hosni Mubarak if summoned after a request by the defense, a security official said.
Fareed al-Deeb, who represented the fallen dictator at his murder trial, asked the judge in its first session Wednesday to summon Tantawi and military chief of staff Sami Enan along with some 1,600 witnesses.
“It is very likely that the field marshal will attend, if the court requests his presence,” said the source, who requested anonymity.

The request was interpreted by some as an implicit threat by the pugnacious ex-president to embarrass the military, which many believe must have signed off on the decision to try Mubarak.
“It looks as if the Mubarak defense has raised the ante with the possibility of summoning Tantawi, Enan and former governors,” said Elijah Zarwan, an expert on Egypt with the International Crisis Group think tank.

“In the past, Mubarak, at the center of a dictatorial regime, was privy to all kinds of secrets. God only knows what embarrassing questions Mubarak could ask of senior military officials,” he said.t The trial so far appears to have restored the credibility of the military, which had been accused of dragging its feet on trying its former commander in chief.
“It was hard personally, and on the morale,” to see a decorated war hero such as Mubarak in the cage, said the official. “But I have to think with my head. There was corruption, and he was responsible for the country,” he said.