Main focus of Thursday, August 4, 2011

Egypt settles scores with Mubarak

The trial against Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak began in Cairo on Wednesday. The 83-year-old must answer above all for the deaths of over 800 demonstrators during the Egyptian popular uprising. Commentators see the trial as a symbolic settling of accounts with the Mubarak era, and crucial for the development of democracy in the Arab world.

Libération - France

The beginning of the trial against Hosni Mubarak and his sons looks more like revenge than justice, writes the left-liberal daily Libération: "Mubarak's trial has begun with a sinister bit of theatre aimed at humiliating the accused. As a result justice has paved the way for its opposite: revenge. How else to understand the way Mubarak and his sons have been paraded before court locked behind bars like dogs, very much like in the times of the recent dictatorship? Is now not the time to break with such behaviour and turn a new leaf? ... The trial against Mubarak, which was unimaginable not long ago, is a key event for Egypt and the entire Arab Spring. It must be exemplary if it is to lay the foundation for democracy. Because a regime's true nature is revealed in how it treats its enemies." (04/08/2011)

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Rzeczpospolita - Poland

The trial against Hosni Mubarak is above all a symbolic settling of accounts with the era of the former president, the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita comments: "The trial against Mubarak is unusual in many respects. Dictators seldom end up on trial, and even more seldom does it happen so quickly. Neither the advanced age of the accused nor the real or feigned health problems could prevent this. Nor indeed the fact that his former military colleagues in Egypt now wield all the power. They may fear that something will come out during the trial that compromises them. It is still unclear what the outcome of the trial will be and what sentence awaits Mubarak. For now we are watching a symbolic settling of scores with his era. The Egyptians, too, are watching." (04/08/2011)

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The Guardian - United Kingdom

The trial against Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak is a milestone not just for Egypt but for the entire Arab World, according to the left-liberal daily The Guardian: "Mubarak's trial is not just important for Egypt. Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, injured in a rebel attack and getting medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, is being offered immunity from prosecution in a deal openly backed by a selective West. Tunisia's deposed president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, was tried and sentenced in absentia. Again justice denied. If a deal were done with Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, it would be at the expense of charges for war crimes. It is no exaggeration to say that, along with elections, the democratic future of the Arab World depends on this trial." (04/08/2011)

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

The trial against Hosni Mubarak could lay the foundation for democracy in the country provided the Egyptian revolution is not instrumentalised by the wrong forces, writes the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "It would be premature to talk of a betrayed revolution at this point. The testimonies of Egyptians delighting in their new freedom to finally express their opinions are too moving for that. The sense of euphoria, however, is wearing off and the political reality is catching up with it. Last Friday Tahrir Square in Cairo provided a picture of the social forces that intend to call the tune in Egypt after Mubarak. In addition to the comparatively small crowd of secular democracy activists there were many Islamists. ... The country still lacks a settlement that stipulates the civic freedoms. It won't be the army that initiates such a process. If Mubarak's fall is to be more than just the sacrifice of a scapegoat, Egypt now needs its revolutionaries more than ever." (04/08/2011)

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