Egyptian Prosecutors Demand Death Sentence for Mubarak

CAIRO (RIA Novosti)- Egypt’s Prosecutors General’s Office demanded on Thursday a death sentence for the Egyptian ex-president, Hosni Mubarak, the country’s former interior minister and six other defendants, Egyptian state news agency, MENA reported.

The hearings against the ousted Egyptian leader resumed on January 2.

Mustafa Khater, one of the prosecutors, told the court session that “the prosecution demands the maximum penalty against Mubarak and the rest of the accused which is death by hanging.”

Mubarak as well as Egyptian former interior minister, Habib El-Adly and a group of former country’s authorities are charged with ordering to shoot at peaceful protesters during the public unrest in January, 2011. Over 850 people had been killed in the clashes.

The next hearings against Mubarak will be held on January 9-10, Egypt’s Al Ahram said on its web site.

According to the preliminary results of the third and final round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections, held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Islamist parties are leading the polls.

The Freedom and Justice Party, created by the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and the Salafi Nour Party are leading the three stages of the elections.

The Islamist parties may occupy up to 70 percent of the seats in a 508-seat People's Assembly, Egypt’s lower house of parliament, RIA Novosti’s Cairo-based correspondent reported.