Former strongman to be transferred to a military hospital CAIRO: Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak, detained pending a probe into corruption and state violence, may be jailed or hanged if found guilty of ordering the killing of demonstrators, state media said Friday, adding that he will be transferred to a military hospital, from which he will be moved to prison when his health improves. The state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram quoted the head of Cairo's appeals court, Zakaria Shalash, as saying that Mubarak may face execution after a trial he expected to last at least a year. Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were remanded into 15 days custody this week after prosecutors launched a probe into violence against protesters during an 18-day popular uprising that forced Mubarak to resign on Feb. 11. A corruption panel will begin questioning them next week on suspicion of graft, the newspaper reported. Shalash said the testimony by Mubarak's former interior minister Habib Al-Adly, who himself is on trial on charges of ordering the shootings of anti-regime protesters, made Mubarak an accomplice if proven. Adly said he was ordered to use violence against protesters by the former leader. “If proven, he (Mubarak) will receive the same punishment as the person who carried it out and it could reach execution if it is proven that peaceful demonstrators were killed with premeditation,” he said. Mubarak may receive life if shown there was no premeditation in the deaths of the protesters, he added. An estimated 800 people were killed in protests that toppled the veteran leader. Mubarak may also be sentenced to three to five years if it was proved that violence he ordered maimed protesters, Shalash said. Egypt's state prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmud decided Friday to transfer Mubarak from a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to a military hospital, the official MENA news agency reported. Mubarak would be placed under “the necessary security,” it reported. It added Mubarak would remain “detained under preventive custody according to prison laws with the obligation of informing the state prosecution as soon his health improves and the opportunity arises to move him to a prison.” Mubarak suffered a heart attack earlier this week during questioning by prosecutors over his alleged involvement in the deaths of anti-regime protesters. He and his two sons were subsequently remanded in custody for 15 days. The report said the prosecution had asked the Interior Ministry to transfer Mubarak to a hospital in Cairo's Tora prison, where his sons Alaa and Gamal are along with a growing number of former ministers and regime officials. The interior minister responded by saying the prison's hospital was not equipped to deal with a rapid decline in the 82-year-old's health and recommended a military hospital, the report said. – Agence France
