Hosni Mubarak Live Blog

Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's intelligence chief and vice-president during the final days of his presidency, has joined the race for the presidency, a last-minute entrance that raises the heat in a contest pitting former regime figures against newly-assertive Islamists.

Ecstatic supporters cheered behind lines of military police as Suleiman arrived at the office of the state election committee in Cairo. He then handed in his candidacy documents, state news agency MENA reported, citing a committee official.

"The people want Omar Suleiman," his supporters chanted as he struggled to get through the crowds outside the election commission.

Omar Suleiman, 74, announced he planned to run on Friday, saying overwhelming public pressure had aroused his sense of soldierly duty.

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]