Mubarak is back! ...

...at least to the news: On Sunday, Mubarak for the first time since his ouster addressed the (his?) nation. In an audio recording broadcasted on AlArabiya Mubarak denied having illegally amassed wealth and moved it outside of Egypt, and threatened to sue those who damaged his reputation.The prosecutor general Abdel Meguid ‎Mahmoud responded within an hour saying Mubarak was summoned as part of investigations into the killing of protesters and embezzlement of public funds. Mubarak's speech and denial would not affect the investigations. Yet, Mubarak's highly emotional speech was definitely tailored to change people's mind on him. Egypt Daily News quotes from the speech "I feel deep sorrow and pain for the allegations against me and my family aiming to defame my integrity my political and military honor that I used for serving Egypt at times of peace and war".

Another attempt by the former president-father-pharao-ruler to work people's emotions

Yet, might there really still be a threat that playing on people's emotions works after all that has happened? I start to understand why a honoured friend of mine keeps disyplaing the huge scars on his legs resulting from him being shot on January 28. To quote himself „this is to show the people what this regime is like! What Mubarak is capable of doing!“ He was eager to counter the narrations and ideas of people who still thought Mubarak was a hounorable men who deserved the treatment of an older gentleman whose only fault it was to miss the right point for voluntary retirement.

The Alliance of Egyptian Revolutionaries reacted furiously to the former president's speech. Considering that not only the prosecutor but also several other political actors such as the April 6 movement responded negatively to Mubarak's speech, AlAhram judges that Mubarak didnt do himself any good as him speaking up only fueled the fire and led to the speeding up of the prosecutior.

Maikel Nabil tried in absence, NDP figures getting civilian trials

Regarding the case of Maikel Nabil, I would like to add that he was tried by a military court (while the Military Council emphasizes the right of former NDP figures to be tried by a civilian court!) in the absence of his or his lawyers. The blog Democracy Review now published a letter supposedly from Maikel Nabil appeared.

Minor clashes in Tahrir were reported, reflecting the rising tension on the Midan in general but also between two groups of protestors in particular. Also on AUC campus protests to oust two regime related figures took place. Students demanded the dismissal of the security chief, Ashraf Kamal, who used to work for State Security and of the head of student development services, Mohammed Dabbour who is an NDP member.Both are accused of previously having monitored and censored student activity on campus.