CAIRO, Egypt - Prosecutors at the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have demanded the death penalty for him. Mubarak is being tried in Cairo on charges of ordering the killing of demonstrators during unrest which led to his overthrow last year.The demand also applies to former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six other former security chiefs.
More than 800 protesters were killed during an 18-day revolt before Mr Mubarak was ousted on 11 February.
- "Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants," prosecutor Mustafa Khater said, according to AFP.
- "He [Mubarak] can never, as the head of the state, claim that he did not know what was going on," chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman told the court.
- "He is responsible and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened", he added.
Given the severity of the charges, the demand for the death penalty does not come as a surprise, but many Egyptians will be shocked to hear the demand put so bluntly for the first time in the trial, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.However, whether Mr Mubarak will be executed or even convicted is another question entirely - the prosecution has complained of a lack of co-operation from the interior ministry in producing evidence and the case has been weakened by a key witness changing his testimony, he adds.
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