Mubarak pleads not guilty in Cairo

CAIRO, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of corruption and killing protesters during popular uprisings earlier this year.

"I completely deny all the charges against me," the former president said during the first day of his trial at the Police Academy in Cairo.

Judge Ahmed Refaat ordered the trial against Mubarak, 83, to resume Aug. 15, while the trial against his co-defendants was to resume Thursday, al-Masry al-Youm reported.

Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six police officers are on trial for corruption charges and killing protesters. Prominent businessman and Mubarak confidant Hussein Salem is being tried in absentia because he fled to Spain. Egypt is demanding his extradition.

Al-Masry al-Youm said prosecutors alleged Mubarak:

-- Conspired with Adly in the premeditated killing of protesters.

-- Approved the use of live fire and approved the use of vehicles to run over protesters.

-- Was responsible for the murder of several protesters.

-- Secured for himself and his sons five villas through fraudulent contracts with Salem.

-- Benefited from his position by selling Egyptian gas to Israel through the Eastern Mediterranean Gas company, represented by Salem.

Defense attorneys asked the court for several items, including transcriptions of computer memory cards containing information about the case and hearing the testimony of all 1,761 witnesses in the case, among other things, al-Masry al-Youm said.

Mubarak was transferred to the International Medical Center in the Cairo, where his medical team will attend to his health. Mubarak appeared in court on a hospital bed. He had been deemed fit to travel from Sharm el-Sheik, where he had been hospitalized, to Cairo to stand trial.

Fighting erupted between Mubarak supporters and opponents just before the trial began.

In Israel, Labor Party member Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Wednesday he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu offered Mubarak political asylum several months ago, Haaretz reported.

Ben-Eliezer, considered a friend of Mubarak, told Army Radio he met the ousted leader in Sharm el-Sheik "and I told him that it was a short distance and that it might be a good chance to heal himself. I am convinced that the Israel government would have accepted him but he declined [the offer] because he was a patriot."