The trial would open on Wednesday and be held "inside the Police Academy in Masr el-Gedida" in northern Cairo for security reasons, said the court's president, Abdel Aziz Omar.

"It has been finally decided that the trial of the former president Hosni Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, fugitive businessman Hussein Salem, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six of his assistants will be held from August 3 inside the headquarters of the Police Academy in Masr el-Gedida," Omar said, quoted by MENA state news agency.

Previously, justice ministry official Mohammed Manei had told MENA the trial would take place in "the building of the General Authority for Investment and the free trade areas in the Cairo Expo grounds."

Mubarak, ousted in February by a popular revolt, has been under arrest in hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he is being treated for a heart condition.

He is charged with ordering the shooting of anti-regime demonstrators during the revolt, in which 850 people were killed, abuse of office for illicit gains and squandering public funds. The justice minister has said Mubarak may be executed if found guilty of the murder charge.

AFP