Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak did not order troops to fire on protesters during nationwide riots in 2011, former Interior Minister Habiba el-Adly said, the news portal Ash-Shuruk reported on Thursday.
El-Aldy is on trial, along with six aides and former president Mubarak, for ordering security forces to shoot at demonstrators during last year’s 18-day uprising that left 846 protesters dead and around 6,000 injured, according to official sources.
“Mubarak did not order me to shoot at protesters,” el-Adly said in court. The former minister emphasized he received orders to “show maximum possible retraint and protect and defend public property.”
El-Adly’s lawyer said guards of the American University in Cairo, which is adjacent to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-Mubarak rallies, may have fired at the peaceful protesters.
He also said a third party might have been responsible for the deadly clashes, adding that a citizen of Qatar and a Palestinian carrying firearms were arrested on Tahrir during the clashes.
The trial resumed last week.
