CAIRO: The prosecutor general on Wednesday referred the former interior minister and four aides to court on charges of ordering the shooting of anti-regime protesters, the state news agency MENA said.
Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred Habib Al-Adly and the ex-chiefs of Cairo security, public security, central security and state security to the Cairo criminal court for "the premeditated and deliberate killing of some protesters during the demonstrations that erupted on January 25 in Cairo and other provinces," MENA said.
Adly is currently on trial for fraud as part of a broad investigation by Egypt’s new military rulers into corruption under the rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
The four security chiefs, Ismail Al-Shaer, Adly Fayed, Ahmed Ramzi and Hassan Abdel Rahman, were detained on March 11 for allowing the shooting of protesters.
A parliamentary committee recommended Mubarak face similar charges, Egypt’s leading newspaper, Al-Ahram, reported Wednesday, but the public prosecutor has so far held back from accusing the former ruler of complicity in the violence surrounding the demonstrations.
The charges are in stark contrast to the almost total freedom that security forces had during Mubarak’s reign, when thousands of Egyptians faced humiliations large and small — ranging in severity from torture to paying off police to dodge falsified charges.
Anti-government protests that erupted on Jan. 25 saw violent clashes between Adly’s forces and demonstrators, and left at least 384 people dead and more than 6,000 injured.
Also to face criminal trial are the security chiefs of the provinces of Giza and October 6, as well as a large number of officers from 11 provinces, all charged with "killing and wounding protesters," a security official told AFP.
"They killed and wounded a number of citizens as they protested peacefully in these provinces," Mahmoud said in a statement released to official media. Some were also charged with corruption.
The charges clear the way for a newer generation of midlevel security officials to assume the top positions.
A court date to hear the charges is expected to be set soon.
The trial orders follow a wide investigation by the general prosecution in which evidence was collected from families of the dead and police at the demonstrations, the official said.
The move is likely to be hailed by rights and pro-democracy activists who have long accused Egypt’s widespread security apparatus of abuse and torture.
Earlier this month, new Interior Minister Mansur Essawy disbanded the long-feared State Security Investigations, the branch of the interior ministry that monitored political dissent after taking office on a pledge to restore confidence.
The reform was among the key demands of protesters who brought down Mubarak.
Essawy announced the establishment of a new security arm, called National Security, that would be restricted to "guarding the domestic front and battling terrorism."
Insecurity has been rife in recent weeks, with political and religious clashes erupting around the country, in what the new cabinet described as a "counter-revolution" by diehards of the old regime.
