Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak to be released

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was on Monday ordered released in view of his having served his maximum pre-trial detention sentence, the official Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

In May 2014, Mubarak was sentenced to three years in jail after he was found guilty of appropriating millions of Egyptian pounds which had been allocated to the presidential palaces, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Attorney General's release order in this regard declared that Mubarak served his term during the pre-trial detention period, according to Al-Ahram.

Back in April 2011, an Egyptian prosecutor ordered Mubarak's detention for 15 days pending an investigation into charges of corruption and abuse of power.

The former President was subsequently tried for murdering protestors who demonstrated against his rule in 2011.

Mubarak, 89, spent his entire detention period at a military hospital in Cairo.

On March 2, an Egyptian upper court issued a final verdict affirming Mubarak's acquittal of the murder charges of protestors demonstrating in the 2011 uprising which ended his 30-year rule.

Mubarak has previously been acquitted of similar charges in 2015, however, the prosecution later appealed the verdict.

After Monday's court order, Mubarak will soon be able to freely leave the hospital in a matter of hours following the finalisation of procedures as no other charges exist against him.

--IANS

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