Egyptian politician ElBaradei says ousted President Mubarak must stand trial
Egyptian politician Mohamed ElBaradei said that ousted President Hosni Mubarak must stand trial.
His statement 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 ElBaradei 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, ElBaradei 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.
ElBaradei’s previous statement to CNN during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution which began on Jan. 25, according to The Jerusalem Post, was that a trial was unnecessary.
Instead, 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.
ElBaradei 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.”
This article originally appeared in Wikinews.
