Sunday, June 3, 2012

Egyptians mass for new protest

Protesters in Cairo shout slogans against former President Hosni Mubarak as they await the verdict in his case on Saturday, June 2, 2012. Mubarak is the only autocrat fallen during the Arab Spring to be put on trial.Protesters in Cairo shout slogans against former President Hosni Mubarak as they await the verdict in his case on Saturday, June 2, 2012. Mubarak is the only autocrat fallen during the Arab Spring to be put on trial.
Families of the anti-regime protesters killed during last year's revolution celebrate after hearing Mubarak was given a life sentence for ordering troops to fire on protesters.Families of the anti-regime protesters killed during last year's revolution celebrate after hearing Mubarak was given a life sentence for ordering troops to fire on protesters.
A fully veiled Muslim Egyptian woman holds a portrait of Mubarak outside of the courthouse in Cairo. The image is adorned with a hangman's noose.A fully veiled Muslim Egyptian woman holds a portrait of Mubarak outside of the courthouse in Cairo. The image is adorned with a hangman's noose.
Youths protest against Mubarak in Cairo.Youths protest against Mubarak in Cairo.
Mubarak supporters also showed up to demonstrate outside of the courthouse, carrying signs and portraits.Mubarak supporters also showed up to demonstrate outside of the courthouse, carrying signs and portraits.
Protesters and policemen clash after the announcement of Mubarak's guilty verdict.Protesters and policemen clash after the announcement of Mubarak's guilty verdict.
An anti-regime protester, who wanted the death penalty for Egypt's former leader, reacts to news of Mubarak's sentence.An anti-regime protester, who wanted the death penalty for Egypt's former leader, reacts to news of Mubarak's sentence.
Mubarak's supporters react to news of the guilty verdict.Mubarak's supporters react to news of the guilty verdict.
Emotional anti-Mubarak protesters embrace after the verdict against the former president was handed down.Emotional anti-Mubarak protesters embrace after the verdict against the former president was handed down.
An anti-Mubarak protester shouts before a line of riot policemen guarding the Cairo courthouse.An anti-Mubarak protester shouts before a line of riot policemen guarding the Cairo courthouse.
Mubarak supporters rally outside of the courthouse after news of the verdict was handed down.Mubarak supporters rally outside of the courthouse after news of the verdict was handed down.
  • NEW: Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik says the verdict shows no one is above the law
  • Hundreds of people gather in Tahrir Square after Mubarak escapes the death penalty
  • Sixty-one people are injured in demonstrations following the verdict, state TV reports
  • The judge clears Mubarak's sons of corruption and aides of ordering protesters killed

Cairo (CNN) -- Hundreds of people began gathering in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, foreshadowing a second day of protests after the country's deposed president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for ordering the killing of demonstrators in the revolution that toppled him last year.

Six of his former officials were cleared of the same charges, sparking fury in the streets.

Many also expressed anger that former strongman Mubarak, 84, had escaped the death penalty.

Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of Egypt's revolution, overflowed Saturday with people angry at the court rulings, and the Muslim Brotherhood called for more protests on Sunday.

Mubarak and former Interior Minister Habib El Adly were sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.

Mubarak was immediately transferred to a prison in southern Cairo to serve his sentence, and a prosecutor said the former president, who attended court on a gurney, would be transferred to the prison hospital.

The former president's lawyer, Fareed El Deeb, said there were many holes in the judge's decision and that he was already preparing to appeal the Mubarak verdict.y

Protesters in the square waved Egyptian flags as they demanded justice for those killed and injured during last year's demonstrations. At least 61 people were injured Saturday in protests throughout Egypt, following the verdict, state TV reported.

"How is (Mubarak) imprisoned for life ... but his main aides are set free?" asked AbdulMawgoud Dardery, a member of the Freedom and Justice Party, which is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which took the largest share of seats in parliamentary elections after the revolution.

How will Mubarak verdicts affect Egypt?
Egypt's Mubarak guilty, aides acquitted
Mubarak sentenced to life in prison

"That is a big insult to Egyptian will," Dardery told CNN.

The Islamist group Muslim Brotherhood is fielding one of two candidates in this month's presidential runoff, Mohamed Morsi.

He is facing former Air Force officer Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's last prime minister.

Shafik said he respects the verdict and will do his best to honor the memory of the "martyrs" of the revolution "and to stand by their families in their sorrow."

The verdict means "means that there is no one in Egypt who is any longer above the law and cannot be held accountable," he said on his Facebook page.

He said the acquittal of the six aides does not mean that he accepts their style or how they conducted their business, calling their actions "unacceptable."

Shafik was prime minister during part of the revolution and for several weeks after Mubarak resigned.

Given the anger and perceived injustice at the verdict in the 10-month trial, Dardery said, the outcome will hurt Shafik and anyone associated with the former regime.

"All of Egypt are now rallying behind Dr. Morsi," Dardery told CNN. "We call him the candidate of the revolution because he promised the Egyptians to bring justice to those who killed their sons and daughters."

iReport: Egyptians protest current regime

Speaking to reporters later on Saturday, Morsi promised to bring those responsible for the deaths to justice.

"In the near future, if I am chosen, I will directly initiate a criminal investigation to identify evidence against those who killed revolutionists, those who caused corruption and those who robbed the nation," he said. "I repeat, I am with the revolution and I will continue to be, even after I become president."

About 840 people died and more than 6,000 others were injured in last year's 18-day uprising, according to Amnesty International.

"I'm asking the help of the people who gather in Tahrir Square to get justice for my son," pleaded one woman on the street in Cairo. "I need justice for my son. My son did not commit any crime. How come the sons of Mubarak are set free?"

The Cairo courtroom erupted in chaos Saturday after the judge convicted Mubarak and acquitted six of his aides for the killings. Mubarak was cleared of a corruption charge and two of his sons were also set free.

Mubarak courtroom erupts in chaos
The last days of Hosni Mubarak's regime
Egypt one year after uprising
Hosni Mubarak found guilty

It appeared the entire gallery of men dressed in suits began shouting and stood on their chairs chanting that the decision wasn't harsh enough. Fists flew and at least one man suffered a bleeding gash to his chin.

"We want honesty!" they shouted. "Revolution till victory!"

The Muslim Brotherhood vowed to retry the acquitted aids if Morsi is elected.

Protesters at one point burned Shafik campaign posters in the square. And thousands marched through downtown Cairo, calling for a law to bar Shafik from running and carrying posters reading "Shafik = Mubarak."

A strongman's fall from grace

The echoing cheers outside the police academy where the trial was held turned to angry shouts as people first heard Mubarak's sentence, then heard that all of Mubarak's senior advisers and his two sons were acquitted.

The mostly anti-Mubarak crowd threw rocks at police, smashed cars and cursed the ruling military council.

The sentence delivered by Judge Ahmed Refaat was the final chapter of Mubarak's iron rule of Egypt that ended in February 2011. He said it offered people relief after living "in 30 years of dark without any hope."

"The verdicts are insults to the Egyptian people and the judicial system. It's a festival of innocent verdicts to El Adly's aides who killed and tortured free citizens for years," said Rami Shath, a member of the Egyptian Revolution Alliance.

Human Rights Watch said the verdict sends a message to Egypt's future leaders that they are not above the law, though it said the acquittals give "a green light to future police abuse."

Amnesty International described the verdict as "a significant step towards combating long-standing impunity in Egypt," but it, too, said the ruling leaves many waiting for full justice.

Arab leaders: Where are they now?

David Scheffer, an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, said the trial was significant for the Arab world even if it could have been run better.

"While I want to emphasize the problems with the trial itself, it's also important to recognize that the Egyptian judicial system has held a leader accountable for very serious crimes that occurred during the uprising in Egypt," Scheffer told CNN.

"In the very heart of the Arab world, where this has not occurred before in a civilian court, a leader has actually been brought to justice, a leader who has been persent in the courtroom has brought to some level of justice by a domestic court for gross human rights abuses."

Timeline of Mubarak's ascent and fall from power

The White House had no comment on Mubarak's sentence.

The trial has been a spectacle few Egyptians thought they would see, with Mubarak on the gurney and locked in a defendant's cage.

The verdict follows Friday's expiration of a notorious emergency law that was in effect since shortly after Mubarak came to power in October 1981 and gave police sweeping powers.

CNN's Saad Abedine, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Ben Wedeman and journalist Ian Lee contributed to this report.