Sand Storm Forces Mubarak to Miss Trial Hearing
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak missed a hearing on Tuesday for the first time since his trial opened last August, after a sand storm prevented his helicopter from taking off, the chief judge said.
The veteran strongman has attended every previous hearing in his trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the mass demonstrations that forced him from power last February.
The 83-year-old has been brought to the military court by helicopter from the hospital in the Cairo suburbs where he is being held because of his ill-health, and then wheeled into the dock on a stretcher.
"Lead defendant Mohammed Hosni Mubarak is not present in court because of the bad weather," the president of the court, Ahmed Refaat, told the hearing.
However, Mubarak's sons Gamal and Alaa, and former interior minister Habib al-Adly were in court.
Adly and six other former security officials face charges connected with the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the uprising.
Mubarak's sons are standing trial on graft charges.
Source: Agence France Presse
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