Egypt Live Blog

Egypt's toppled president declines a chance to address the court in the last session after six month of hearings.

Hosni Mubarak's security chief on Wednesday blamed foreigners for the killing of protesters in the uprising that unseated the Egyptian president, in the final day of the ousted leader's murder trial.

Mubarak's former security chief said that "foreigners" had killed the protesters, and that they had climbed on the rooftops of buildings and shot them.

He blamed Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for sending infiltrators, and said the plot against Egypt was continuing to this day.

Adly defended himself and the police against the charge of murder, drawing applause from some police officers standing at the back of the courtroom.

Judge Ahmed Refaat is expected to announce the date of the verdict later Wednesday. [AFP]

US senator John McCain says Egypt's military rulers have reassured him that authorities are working "diligently" to resolve a criminal case against US pro-democracy groups that has brought relations between the two allies to their lowest point in decades.

McCain's comments Monday in Cairo were the first public statement to indicate the two sides are trying to find a way to move from the crisis that has threatened US aid to Egypt and shook confidence in the country's transition to democracy.

As part of a crackdown on nonprofit organisations, Egyptian authorities have referred 16 Americans and 27 others to trial, which is expected to begin on February 26, on charges that include the illegal use of foreign funds. 

McCain chairs one of the four American groups targeted.

He had met earlier Monday in Cairo with the country's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. [AP]

The chief prosecutor in the trial of ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak said Monday in his closing remarks that the former president should be given the death penalty for the killings of protesters in last year's uprising.

Mustafa Suleiman said Mubarak, who ruled over the Arab world's most populous country for nearly 30 years, clearly authorized use of live ammunition and a shoot-to-kill policy against peaceful protesters.

According to government estimates, around 850 were killed in the crackdown from January. 25 to Feburary. 11, 2011.

For this, Suleiman told the presiding judges, Mubarak and five co-defendants, including his longtime Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and four former top security officers, should receive the maximum sentence.

"This is not a case about the killing of one or ten or 20 civilians, but a case of an entire nation," he said. [AP]