Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two
sons will be tried for killing peaceful protesters, while over 60
people were killed in fresh clashes in Yemen Tuesday.
Egypt's General Prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud decided to refer
Mubarak and his two sons to a criminal court over charges of
intentionally killing peaceful protesters, according to the state-run
news agency MENA.
Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were accused of various charges,
including premeditated murder of protesters during the nationwide
anti-regime demonstration that toppled Mubarak's 30-year rule, the
abuse of presidential power for private gain and profit, and the waste
of public funds.
Mubarak is now being detained in a hospital in Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh.
He was forced to resign on Feb. 11 after 18-day nationwide
demonstrations, during which some 840 people were killed and more than
6,000 others injured.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces denied last week that
it intended to grant Mubarak and his family amnesty, stressing it had
absolutely no intention to pardon Mubarak and his family.
In Yemen, at least 49 anti-government armed tribesmen and 15
government soldiers were killed in intensified clashes in the capital
Sanaa.
Hundreds from both sides were injured. The Yemeni state TV channel
reported that at least one civilian was also killed, and five others, a
woman and four children, were injured.
An official from the Interior Ministry told Xinhua the armed tribes
of the opposition leader Sadeq al-Ahmar, who is the chieftain of the
most powerful Hashid tribe, fired mortar shells and rocket-propelled
grenades (RPGs) against the ministry and a nearby security camp,
killing 15 security forces and setting the highest floor of the
Interior Ministry and a small building of the security camp on fire.
Al-Ahmar, who backed protests to oust Yemeni President Ali Abdullah
Saleh, hired around 3,000 armed tribesmen from the Houthi-led Shiite
rebels stationed in the northern province of Saada, according to Houthi
sources.
An official from al-Ahmar's office told Xinhua that heavy attacks
were launched by government forces against the residential compound of
al-Ahmar, leaving at least 49 gunmen dead as RPGs and mortar shells
ignited a fire inside al-Ahmar's compound.
The two sides have been trading fire since midday Monday after Saleh
refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered deal to ease him
out of power and end the political standoff.
The clashes on Monday killed at least 14 government soldiers and
seven armed tribesmen, and wounded 61 others, according to a security
official.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said NATO
operations in Libya were merely aimed at ousting Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi instead of fulfilling UN resolutions on Libya.
"These actions have been reduced to (an attempt to) overthrow the
Gaddafi regime, not fulfill UN resolutions," Rogozin was quoted by RIA
Novosti news agency as saying.
"This is in open conflict with the UN Security Council resolutions," he added.
Rogozin also said Russia would formally ask NATO to clarify an
imminent ground operation in Libya during a NATO-Russia Council meeting
on Wednesday.
"We have information, and we are going to double-check this
information by filing direct written inquiries to NATO," Rogozin said.
NATO said its air campaign had rolled back the ability of Libyan
government forces to attack the opposition fighters and their
supporters, and had effectively forced Gaddafi himself into hiding.
However, the three-month conflict seems to have reached a deadlock,
as the opposition controls the eastern part of Libya and some of the
west, but can't advance further westward to the capital Tripoli.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1970 imposed an arms embargo
against Libya and slapped sanctions on members of Gaddafi's inner
circle, while Resolution 1973 authorized a no-fly zone over Libya.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped the African
Union could hammer out a plan for breaking the deadlock in Libya during
its meeting Wednesday.
"I hope that some positions will be worked out based on all these
approaches (offered by opposition representatives in Benghazi,the
African Union and the UN), which allows to stop a bloodshed as soon as
possible," Lavrov told a news conference. Xinhua
