.png)
Egyptian protesters hold pictures of people who were killed during the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak during his trial in Cairo on Jan. 5. The chief prosecutor has demanded the death sentence for the fallen dictator. (Khaled Desouki /AFP/Getty Images)
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should receive the death penalty for his role in the deaths of more than 800 unarmed protesters last year during the country’s uprising, the prosecution in his trial said on Thursday.
“The prosecution demands the maximum penalty against Mubarak and the rest of the accused which is death by hanging,” prosecutor Mustafa Khater told the country, according to Al-Jazeera.
Mustafa Suleiman, the top prosecutor, told the court that Mubarak “can never, as the top official, claim that he did not know what was going on.”
“He is responsible for what happened and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened,” he added.
Mubarak’s former head of state, ex-Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, and six assistants should also receive the death penalty, prosecutors said.
Suleiman argued that Mubarak as much as admitted guilt in the killings because just before he stepped down as president he had said the military “failed to perform the role assigned to it,” reported the Al-Ahram newspaper.
The trial will resume on January 9 when the prosecution will present its case.
