'Mubarak aware of shooting protesters'

Former Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/181924.html

The former Egyptian intelligence chief has revealed that ousted President Hosni Mubarak had full knowledge of every bullets fired at protesters during the demonstrations.

"Mubarak had complete knowledge of every bullet fired at protesters, and the number of those killed or wounded," Omar Suleiman, Egypt's former intelligence chief, was quoted as saying in his testimony published in Al-Akhbar daily on Thursday, AFP reported.

Facing accusations of killings of anti-regime protesters and the abuse of power, Suleiman is reported to have told Egyptian prosecutors that he relayed to the president hourly updates on the police's fatal response to the nationwide protests.

"The reports included all instances of firing live ammunition and rubber bullets at protesters in an attempt to abort the revolution," Suleiman told the prosecutors.

Reports say that prosecutors partly relied on testimony provided by the former Egyptian spy chief to charge the 82-year-old Mubarak with premeditated murder.

According to an official investigation, over 840 people were killed during the revolution that began on January 25 and led to the eventual fall of Mubarak on February 11.

The testimony strikes at the heart of the ongoing investigations into crimes perpetrated by Mubarak himself and several elements of his regime, many of whom have been tried and convicted of corruption charges.

Egypt's public prosecutor said in a statement on Tuesday that Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa will face criminal court on charges of killing protesters, abuse of power and wasting public funds.

The former president is currently in police custody in an Egyptian hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. He is reportedly suffering from repeated heart attacks that occurred during interrogations.