Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Articles
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, is set to go on trial for corruption and unlawful killing before and during the revolution that ultimately led to his ousting.
Mubarak's appearance in a temporary court in Cairo on Wednesday is to be screened live on Egyptian state television.
On Wednesday, state TV said that Mubarak had left the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he was admitted in April.
The former president was reportedly on his way to the airport, heading towards Cairo.
"But all this has happened under a cloud of secrecy," Al Jazeera's Jamal El Shayyal reported from Sharm el-Sheikh.
"Journalists were not allowed to film anywhere near the hospital ... All we can take is the line given by the government and state media."
Speculation swirled until hours before the start of the trial about whether the 83-year-old would turn up to face charges.
Medical sources said members of his family had arrived at his hospital late on Tuesday, and an airport source said a medically equipped aircraft had landed at the local airport.
Seeking justice
Protesters are determined to see him in the dock and are likely to be enraged if he does not appear. Mubarak will be the first Arab leader to face a trial following the uprisings.
Many Egyptians see his illness as a ploy so ruling generals can avoid publicly humiliating the war veteran who ran the Arab world's most populous nation for 30 years until he was toppled on February 11.
Al Jazeera, along with a number of other media outlets, has been denied access to the trial by the Egyptian government.
Habib el-Adly, Mubarak's former interior minister, and six top police officers are also being charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the 850 protesters killed during the uprising, according to the official charge sheet.
All eight could face the death penalty if convicted.
Separately, Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, face charges of corruption.
The courtroom has been set up in what was once the Mubarak Police Academy, one of the multiple security, military and other civil buildings named after the president, though since his toppling his name has been dropped.
Security will be tight, with barbed wire and hundreds of troops around the compound.
Efforts have been made to ensure spectators in the court are unable to get close enough to the defendants' cage to yell and throw objects at them, the interior ministry said.
About 600 people are expected to attend, including relatives of some of the protesters killed during the uprising.
PHOTO CAPTION
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Al-Jazeera
