More Kuwaiti lawyers to join Mubarak trial, against him

Some Kuwaiti lawyers would join the defense team of protestors killed in the anti-government rallies in Egypt earlier this year, against former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who was accused of ordering to shoot pro- reform protestors, local daily Al-Rai reported Saturday. The unspecified number of lawyers would counter an earlier move by their Kuwaiti peers who flew to Cairo to defend Mubarak in gratitude for his support to Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Kuwait's Lawyers Association was quoted by Al-Rai as saying that it had received "numerous applications from Kuwaiti lawyers to represent families of the dead protestors, and the organization was coordinating for necessary licenses." Ten Kuwaiti lawyers arrived in Cairo last Saturday, preparing to join the defense team of Mubarak. But they were not allowed to attend the off-camera trial on Monday. Egypt's Justice Ministry on Tuesday granted permissions to five of them to be part of the defense team of the former Egyptian leader, who had denied in the previous sessions of the trial all the charges against him, including corruption and murder. Mubarak resigned on Feb. 11, after 18 days of mass protests against his three-decade-long rule.