Many of the pro-democracy activists central to the uprising are in prison for attempting to protest against the new president, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Others are dismissed in the media as troublemakers, while the police who in the revolutionaries' eyes were the hated tools of Mubarak oppression are now lauded in the press as heroes in a fight against Islamists. When the trial began in 2011, Egyptians were initially transfixed by TV images of the former strongman who ruled for 30 years being rolled on a gurney into the defendant's cage. On trial with Mubarak are his former interior minister and other top security officials, as well as his sons Alaa and Gamal on corruption charges. Mubarak's elected successor, Islamist Mohammed Morsi, was ousted by el-Sissi and the military after massive protests that began on June 30, 2013 against the domination of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. During the retrial, Mubarak's defense has tried to blame protester deaths on the Brotherhood, to ride the anti-Islamist tide, said lawyer Mohammed Farouk, who is representing families of the victims in the trial. Another lawyer for the victims, Hoda Nasrallah, said she is worried that renewed empathy for Mubarak could have an impact on the judge's ruling, especially given recent court verdicts criticized by rights advocates as politicized and vindictive against Islamists.