COUNTLESS Egyptians, as well as others across the Middle East, remained glued to their television sets on Wednesday as the trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, a fallen pillar of the old, autocratic Arab order, began in Cairo. The former strongman, brought as he was into the courtroom on a hospital bed and placed inside a cage, made for a pathetic and indeed ironic sight: this was the man who ruled over Egypt with an iron fist for three decades. The ailing Mr Mubarak faces charges of corruption and, more seriously, involvement in the killing of protesters during the historic demonstrations earlier in the year — charges that he has denied. Though perhaps not as ruthless as compared to some of the world's other autocrats, Mr Mubarak was no benign dictator. He presided over a sham democracy that brooked no opposition and ran a repressive police state governed under a hated decades-old emergency law which suspended civil liberties and political freedoms. Interestingly, the generals who took over from Mr Mubarak after his overthrow in February have yet to lift the emergency. The Western-backed ruler was despised across the political spectrum, and several attempts were made on his life by Islamist militants.

Justice must run its course and this must not be a show trial; many felt the military delayed Mr Mubarak's trial as being a former air force chief, he has deep links with the Egyptian military establishment. Meanwhile, his trial should serve as a lesson to dictators across the world, especially the Arab world. Other autocrats using brutal methods to crush dissent — such as in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain — should take a cue from Mr Mubarak's fate. The sooner dictators in the Middle East's hotspots reach an agreement with their respective oppositions and cede power peacefully or open up their ossified political systems, the better.