CAIRO, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The lawyer for deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said his client did not order police to kill more than 800 protesters during last year's uprising.
Defense attorney Farid Deeb told a courtroom in Cairo it was the army and not police who were in charge of security beginning on Jan. 28, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Deeb said maverick police officers along with "infiltrators and militants" could have been responsible for the deaths after the army took control of security.
"It doesn't make sense that police ordered the killing of protesters," he said Wednesday. "The police did not have the jurisdiction or authority."
Prosecutor Mohamed Mahmoud told al-Ahram Online Deeb cited earlier testimony by the head of Egypt's ruling military council that Mubarak did not ask him to fire on protesters after the armed forces took over.
The former Egyptian leader is on trial along with his two sons, former interior minister and six others for the killing of unarmed protesters during the 18-day Tahrir Square uprising.
