CAIRO - The judge in the murder trial of toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak startled the courtroom Monday by banning live television coverage of the case that has transfixed the nation.
Judge Ahmed Refaat, who had grown exasperated with grandstanding by lawyers representing the families of victims allegedly gunned down by Mubarak's security forces in last winter's revolution, ruled that television cameras would not be allowed in the courtroom when proceedings continue on Sept. 5.
The decision drew criticism from activists and contradicted earlier assurances by the country's ruling military council that the trial of Mubarak and his sons, Alaa and Gamal, would be transparent.
The expectation of daily broadcasts of the hearings tantalized Egyptians and promised to offer a glimpse into the mechanisms of power that buttressed a repressive state for nearly 30 years. The country was riveted on the first day of the trial two weeks ago when Mubarak entered the court in a hospital bed. Many had expected to watch a national narrative unfold for weeks, much like the intrigue in the serial dramas popular during this holy month of Ramadan.
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"I was not allowed to get inside the courtroom today, and now I can't even watch it on television," said Abdel Moemen Mohamed Sayed, whose brother was shot and killed by security forces in January. "It is my right and right of all families to know exactly what goes on in every single hearing. What's happening now is not making me very optimistic."
The judge addressed the court as Mubarak, who reportedly is experiencing health problems, lay slightly upright in a bed that was rolled into a metal cage used for defendants. Alaa and Gamal held Qurans and bent down and whispered to their father with the smugness that for years enraged their countrymen. Mubarak is charged in the deaths of more than 800 protesters; his sons are accused of financial crimes.
Televising the court proceedings was unusual, and the judge is not violating regulations by turning the cameras off, said Tarek Awady, a lawyer at the Egyptian Appeals Court. He added: "No witness is allowed to listen to another witness's testimony, and the presence of television cameras would have allowed this."
