Hosni Mubarak trials begins

Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak has denied all the charges against him on the opening day of his trial in Cairo.

He was wheeled on a hospital bed into a cage in the courtroom to the astonishment of onlookers gathered outside, correspondents say.

He is being tried with his sons, who also deny the charges, ex-Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six other former officials.

Mr Mubarak was forced from office by mass demonstrations in February.

He is charged with corruption and ordering the killing of protesters - a charge that carries the death penalty.

Some 3,000 soldiers and police have been drafted in to maintain order at the police academy for the trial.

It was originally going to be held in a Cairo convention centre but the authorities moved the venue to a temporary courtroom set up inside the academy because of security concerns.

The main charge Hosni Mubarak is facing is the killing of protesters - and that's going to be hard to prove. It is clear that around 850 protesters were killed, and probably by some sort of government agents.

But it's not clear who gave the orders, or whether there are written or spoken commands that can be proved.

It wasn't done by uniformed officers in full sight, but by gunmen operating at night time from the rooftops of buildings. Pinning that command responsibility on Mr Mubarak is quite a difficult prospect.

An estimated 600 people are thought to be watching the proceedings in and outside the courtroom, with millions more watching on television.

'Calm'

Up until the last moment there was doubt whether Mr Mubarak would actually appear in the court, say correspondents.

His defence team claim he is seriously ill and there was speculation they might negotiate for him to remain in the hospital wing of the police academy while the proceedings took place in the courtroom.

But Mr Mubarak, 83, was wheeled into the cage from where he observed proceedings with the other defendants, including his two sons Alaa and Gamal.

Judge Ahmed Refaat opened the session by asking for order, saying "the civilised Egyptian people require calm... to make sure that the mission of the court is carried out fully so we can please God almighty and our consciences".

The charges against the Mubaraks were read out and Hosni Mubarak and his sons each denied them.

Earlier, defence lawyers said they needed a delay to proceedings to consider 4,000 pages of evidence. There has been speculation that the case will be adjourned, although the judge has been previously quoted as vowing that the trial would proceed speedily.

Judge Refaat is a respected jurist seen as independent of the former regime, says state newspaper al-Ahram.

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Everybody was in shock as the trial began, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo, because this was the moment that no-one in Egypt - maybe all of the Middle East - expected to see.

There was amazement and silence from the people gathered outside as they watched a screen broadcasting proceedings, our correspondent says.

"I am delighted that I see them in a cage. I feel that my son's soul is finally starting to be at rest and that his blood will cool," Saeeda Hassan Abdel-Raouf, the mother of a 22-year-old protester who was among those killed in the uprising, told AP news agency outside the trial venue.