Defense: No Evidence of Mubarak Tyranny

'He Is a Man With Clean Hands and a Pure Heart'

Defense lawyers for former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak today insisted that the charges against him were entirely a function of “public pressure” and that there is no evidence Mubarak ever abused his authority.

He is a man with clean hands and a pure heart,” insisted lawyer Farid el-Deeb, saying there is no way the long-standing ruler could have ever ordered security forces to kill pro-democracy protesters during the Egyptian revolution.

Instead, Deeb says testimony shows that Mubarak ordered his underlings to “deal with the protests in the usual manner.”

And the “usual manner,” according to former Mubarak deputy Omar Suleiman, who has publicly commented on the matter, was to send in riot police and dish out a savage beating to all protesters. The defense, then, is that the order to beat them proves Mubarak never ordered them killed.

He is a just man, not a dictator. A man like him cannot be held responsible for criminal acts like those he is accused of committing,” Deeb added. The prosecution says that the large number of civilian deaths could not have happened without any agreement from Mubarak.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.