Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to face trial

Egyptian politician Mohammed El Baradei has announced that ousted President Hosni Mubarak must stand trial. The announcement follows the recent ratification by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El Araby of a statute that ensures Egypt will join the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). If El Baradei assumes power in the coming October/November 2011 elections, Mubarak and other former high-ranking corrupt Egyptian officials could potentially be tried in The Hague.

In an interview with the Islam Times, El Baradei cited reasons as to why the trial of Hosni Mubarak will be necessary to undertake if he chooses to run for Egypt’s top job. 'Mubarak allegedly issued the order to shoot at the protesters. [That should] have been reason enough to arrest him immediately...The Military Council has no other option than to try Mubarak and bring everyone else to justice who is responsible for human rights violations or corruption”, he said.

El Baradei's previous statement to CNN during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution which began on the 25th of January, according to the Jerusalem Post, was that a trial was unnecessary and that what primarily needed to be done was for Mubarak to hand back money, speculated to be as much as $70 billion, which Mubarak illegally took over the course of his 30 year reign and now owes to the Egyptian people in order for economic progress to emerge.

El Baradei has stated he believes Egypt should be run by ‘institutions’ rather than ‘individuals’ and has said, “I want to come up with a renaissance project for Egypt and not an electoral program for ElBaradei”.

El Baradei is the recipient of a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the advocacy of nuclear energy.

Source: Wikinews