Polls indicate 67 per cent of Egyptians support executing former president Hosni Mubarak if he is found guilty of committing "several crimes against the people." Only 22 per cent oppose his execution.
 
However, Egyptian political experts doubt such a result. They say that the first session of the trial has "greatly succeeded" in absorbing the anger of the masses at the man who ruled them for 30 years and blamed his corrupt regime for their suffering and poor living conditions.
 
"I can't judge before I see the methodology of the poll," Jamal Abdul Jawad, director of the prominent Cairo-based Al Ahram Strategic Studies Centre, told Gulf News.
 
"But [my] general impression is that the percentage is far much higher than what I notice." 
 
The sample of the survey included 1,012 Egyptians and was conducted between August 5 and 7. Nearly 77 per cent of those surveyed in the 18-24 age group support Mubarak's execution. However, the percentage decreases among the older.
 
Mubarak, along with two of his sons and other senior officials, has been charged with corruption and ordering the killing of over 800 protesters during the revolution.
 
The first session of the trial, which was broadcast live on state TV, was marred by stone-throwing incidents and clashes between Mubarak's supporters and opponents outside the Police Academy, where the trial took place.
 
"I think the first session has greatly succeeded in absorbing the growing frustration among the Egyptians. It ended a division about the trial itself. It boosted confidence in the Military Council and the ruling institutions in society. It calmed the situation," Abdul Jawad said of the trial which has been adjourned till August 15.
 
Egyptians following the first session of the trial have mixed feelings of both relief and sorrow, he noted.