He was once a powerful symbol of autocracy in the Arab world, but Wednesday, a frail Hosni Mubarak was wheeled into a Cairo courtroom cage to face trial for allegedly ordering the killing of anti-government protesters.

Dressed in a white prison uniform, Mubarak, 83, was placed in a mesh and iron cage, a standard procedure in Egyptian criminal trials. The former leader, who also faces charges of corruption, peered between the bars, identified himself and denied any culpability.

"All the things that have been said are not true," he said.