Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stands trial

The ailing ex-president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, was wheeled in a hospital bed into a courtroom cage to stand trial for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters calling for his resignation.

Inside the courtroom, a police academy which once carried the name of ousted dictator, the judge, Ahmed Rifaat, read the formal charges against Mubarak. Mubarak swiftly denied the accusations from his bed and handed the microphone to his son, Gamal, who is also facing charges.

The other defendants in the case are Mubarak’s two sons, Gamal and Alaa, former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six other senior police officers. If convicted, the 83-year-old Mubarak will face the death penalty.

The trial, which is public and was widely broadcast across Egypt. Both Mubarak's opponents and supporters watched the trial proceedings on a big screen outside of the courtroom.

"Thirty years of corruption, at least we can see justice is taking place," said a woman who did not want to be named, in a CNN report. "I don't know how Mubarak sleeps, when he was responsible for 80 million people and he did not do his job."

Mubarak's trial is a milestone for the Egyptian people who took to Cairo's Tahrir Square in February calling for the resignation of the president. The Egyptian protests were part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. Other countries affected by the mass demonstrations for increased democracy include Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Morocco.