Hosni Mubarak: Trial more about humiliation and less about justice....

Mubarak and old friends

Call me an old softie, but I found it disturbing watching the pictures of Hosni Mubarak being stretchered into the courtroom, an old man, humbled by the country who had licked his boots for over thirty-years.

Don't get me wrong, it is right and proper that he answer the charges laid before him, but seeing him on a bed, caged, seemed to be more about humiliation and less about justice and somehow demeans the nation of Egypt. For years those same officials, now in control in Cairo, willingly carried out his orders and the International community not only ignored his disregard for human rights, but used his facilities for deeds of their own, including torture.

Mubarak would never have retained his position for so long without the support of the military and it still holds the reins of power today, reluctant to advance the cause of democracy, but happy to surrender the former leader to a show trial. The military - and the judiciary - in the land of the Pharaohs, are as steeped in the blood of the innocent as Mubarak himself. Better they had left him to rot in his villa in Sharm el-Sheikh, than use him to pay lip service to the democratic demands of the Egyptian people.

To accuse Mubarak of corruption, while the military and its friends still possess big villas and vast overseas bank accounts, is laughable. What is very sad is that many of those presiding over his trial, or at least those controlling it behind the scenes, should be in the dock beside him. On the surface they may have changed allegiance and spout words the people want to hear, but do they really believe in power to the people? Sadly, I don't think so.