Trial of Mubarak enters last day

22 February 2012 Last updated at 00:14 GMT The trial against Hosni Mubarak began last August The trial of Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak is due to begin its final day, after six months of hearings.

Mr Mubarak is accused of corruption, and of ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him to step down last February after three decades in power.

The prosecution has called for the death penalty for Mr Mubarak, who denies the charges against him.

The judge is expected to deliver his verdict at a later hearing.

His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six senior police officers have also been put on trial. Mr Mubarak's sons face separate charges of corruption.

All the defendants have denied the charges.

Powerful figures

In his closing remarks on Monday, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said of the trial: "This is not a case about the killing of one or 10 or 20 civilians, but a case of an entire nation."

He told the court earlier that Mr Mubarak must have ordered police to open fire on protesters, leaving more than 800 dead.

The prosecution says it has taken testimony from 2,000 witnesses, including police officers who discussed orders from above to arm police with automatic rifles and shotguns to use against protesters.

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Cairo, says that though most observers say the trial has been conducted relatively fairly, the prosecution maintains that it has been denied access to some of the most important evidence.

The court has not heard logs of calls from the interior ministry in the crucial hours when many of the protesters were killed, prosecutors say, and many key insiders have not given evidence while others have only appeared behind closed doors.

Defence lawyer Farid al-Deeb has said that the Egyptian army was in charge of security when protesters were killed.

He said Mr Mubarak had imposed a curfew on the afternoon of 28 January and transferred responsibility to the head of the army.

Mr Mubarak has attended his trial on a stretcher.

Lawyers for the 83-year-old said he risked suffering a stroke if he tried to sit up.