president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were on Tuesday referred to a criminal court on charges of ordering the killings of anti-regime protesters and graft, the public prosecutor's office said. The prosecutor's office said that Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal have been charged with “premeditated murder of some participants in the peaceful protests of the Jan. 25 revolution.” “The public prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmud has decided today to refer former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal, who will remain under detention, and businessman Hussein Salem to a criminal court,” it said. The murder charges may lead to a death sentence if Mubarak is found guilty, the justice minister said earlier this month. Mubarak and his sons have also been charged with profiteering and using their positions for illicit gains and squandering public funds, the prosecutor's office added. Several of the charges extend to the fourth defendant, Hussein Salem, a businessman close to Mubarak who has been blamed for a controversial deal to supply Israel with gas at lower than usual prices. He has fled the country. Mubarak, who was forced to resign on Feb. 11 after 18 straight days of mass protests, is in police custody in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The veteran leader, who ruled Egypt for three decades, was hospitalized last month after suffering a heart attack during questioning. Prosecutors allege that Mubarak “participated by agreeing with the former interior minister Habib Al-Adli and some former police commanders... in committing premeditated murder,” MENA said. The charges were welcomed by a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most formidable opposition group under Mubarak. “The decision was awaited by Egyptians for a long time,” said Essam Al-Erian, who is also the vice president of a Brotherhood-affiliated political party. – Agence France
