trial update

From the “We Are All Khaled Said” Facebook group:

“The judge has just decided to split the case against Mubarak & his two sons from the case of his interior minister where Mubarak’s case is postponed until 15 August & his interior minister’s case to continue tomorrow. Mubarak will NOT be transferred back to Sharm El Sheikh but he will be kept in the International Medical Centre outside Cairo on the Cairo Ismailia High Way.”

This sounds like a sensible decision to me. The question is whether this is more fair or less fair to the ex-Interior Minister. While El-Adly does seem like far and away the dirtiest character in the crew (every taxi driver I’ve met but one wants him dead), he surely wasn’t just improvising without orders. Like anyone else, El-Adly deserves a fair trial without being scapegoated.

And it’s an interesting question, which of the two trial arrangements is more fair to him. If he were tried with the Mubaraks, could there be some horse-trading where the Mubaraks got off lightly while El-Adly took all the blame? Or is that more likely to happen with separate trials? I’m not sure.

At any rate, I think it’s probably best to deal with the Mubaraks as a special case by themselves.