Mubarak fined $34 million for damaging economy

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been fined $34 million for "damaging the economy" by enforcing a shutdown of telephone and internet connections during the country's popular uprising.

In the first clear ruling against the 83-year-old Egyptian dictator since he left office in February, a Cairo court slapped a fine of $34 million (20 million pounds) for cutting off access to internet and mobile phone services, the BBC said on Saturday.

Media reports quoted a judicial source as saying that Mubarak, his former prime minister Ahmed Nazif and interior minister Habib al-Adly were jointly "ordered to pay the state 540 million Egyptian pounds from their personal funds" as compensation for lost revenue.

Mubarak, who is currently under arrest in a hospital in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, have been ordered to stand trial in a criminal court for killing protesters during the uprising, and allegations of corruption.

Nearly 800 people died during the protests that forced Mubarak to quit on February 11.

Last week, al-Adly was sentenced to 12 years in jail on charges of money-laundering and profiteering.

Thousands of Egyptians gathered at the capital's landmark Tahrir Square for a "second revolution" on Friday, demanding that the military rulers hurry up the democratic reforms to chart out the country's political future.

Critics of the military rulers, which has been governing the country after the ouster of Mubarak, have accused them of dragging their feet on reforms and trials of officials of the former regime accused of graft and abuse of power.

They have claimed that the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which took over the reins of power from the deposed president and is responsible for reforms, are conducting slow trials of former security figures in the Mubarak regime.