Tahrir pressure builds after Mubarak verdicts

CAIRO: Egyptian activists who spearheaded the revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak have called for mass demonstrations on Tuesday to protest against verdicts handed down in the ex-strongman's murder trial.

Mubarak and his interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison on Saturday, but six security commanders were acquitted over the killings of demonstrators during last year's uprising that left around 850 people dead.

The ruling sparked nationwide outrage, with protesters taking to the streets in fury that no one had been found directly guilty of killing the protesters.

The lack of police accountability under Mubarak was one of the main driving forces behind the uprising, and both activists and rights groups fear the acquittals will help sustain that culture of impunity.

The pro-democracy April 6 movement, the Coalition of Revolution Youth and the Maspero Youth Union among others called for a mass protest at the capital's iconic Tahrir Square at 1500 GMT on Tuesday.

The runners-up in last month's presidential election first round, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi and moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, will lead separate marches to the central square, they said in statements.

They came third and fourth respectively in the May 23-24 election that has narrowed to a run-off later this month between Mubarak-era premier Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi.

Pro-democracy movements have capitalised on Egyptian national anger, calling for a return to Tahrir to press for the goals of the revolution.

On Sunday, the state prosecutor said he would appeal against the sentences, but a judicial source told AFP the process could take weeks.

Mubarak's defence team has also said it would challenge the ruling and told it was confident of winning on appeal.

Five of the six acquitted security chiefs were freed early on Monday.

But the head of the now-dissolved state security apparatus, Hassan Abdel Rahman, remains in custody pending investigation into another case in which he is accused of destroying state security documents.

Mubarak -- the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock -- could have been sent to the gallows as demanded by the prosecution but was instead handed down a life term, angering many.

He was also cleared of graft charges.