The live TV images of a caged and bedridden Hosni Mubarak being held to account for alleged crimes against his own people - by his own people - captivated viewers across the Middle East and appeared to many to be a powerful turning point in this year's uprisings.

Some hoped the trial, which began on Wednesday in Cairo, would be the first of several bringing longtime leaders to justice. Others weren't quite sure what to make of the spectacle, torn between a desire for justice and the discomfort of seeing a once-all-powerful Arab leader treated like a common criminal.

For many others, the trial carried a deeper meaning. It was, in the words of pastry shop owner Saif Mahmoud in Baghdad, a rewriting of the rules between the region's people and their leaders.

Mohammed Adnan, 64, a Palestinian retiree, described Mubarak's trial as a "huge move" for the region. He said the longtime Egyptian leader never would have treated his people as he did had he headed a democratic country and knew he would be held accountable for his actions.

Not everyone saw the courtroom drama as a step forward, however.

"The Mubarak trial today is a massive shame for the Arab world," said Hassan al-Masri, 45, from Gaza City.

He described Mubarak as a fighter and said a great leader for the Arabs "does not deserve to sit inside a cage like a criminal".

Sultan al-Qassemi, 33, a widely followed Twitter user and columnist in the United Arab Emirates, voiced similar feelings. On one hand, he said he doesn't like seeing an elderly man being treated as Mubarak was, but on the other, he said he thinks of what kind of justice those killed in the uprising deserve.

"I almost wish he had stepped down earlier" so things wouldn't have come to this, he said.

But he added that Mubarak's fate should be left to his fellow countrymen. "It's not for me to say how it should proceed ... In the end it's up to the Egyptians," al-Qassemi said.

Lebanon-based The Daily Star reported that the court trials of former officials reflect the powerful need among ordinary Egyptian citizens for a sense of justice that must be fulfilled.

The newspaper also said that "clean, fair court trials are the best way to achieve justice and for Egyptians to shift from anger about the past to hope and action for the future".

A day after the start of Mubarak's historic trial, seven of his co-defendants are back in the courtroom on charges of ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that toppled Egypt's longtime president.

Thursday's hearing of former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six top police officials is being broadcast live on Egyptian state television.

The seven appeared in court first on Wednesday in the same defendants' cage with Mubarak and his two sons in a related case that is tried by the same judge. The Mubaraks' trial resumes on Aug 15.

Mubarak, el-Adly and the six police officials face the death penalty if convicted of complicity in protesters' deaths.