Mubarak's release ordered over killings, held on graft charges

Deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak today won an appeal for his release over the killing of hundreds of protesters during the revolution that toppled his dictatorial regime but will remain in custody for corruption charges.
An Appeals Court examined a request submitted by Mubarak's lawyer Farid al-Deeb for the release of the 84-year-old on the grounds that the period of provisional detention has expired.
The court granted his petition, technically freeing him in the case involving the killing of non-violent protesters during the 2011 uprising that brought him down. But the court ordered him to remain detained in connection with other cases, state TV said.

Mubarak will remain in custody pending investigations over corruption charges related to the misuse of funds allocated for the renovation of presidential palaces, Egypt Independent reported.
The memorandum submitted by Deeb argued that Mubarak's provisional detention, which started in April, 2011, has ended because two years have lapsed since the start of his trial.
Prosecutors told the Cairo Criminal Court that the time the former president has already spent in detention exceeded the legal limit for custody detention and there would be no legal reason for him to detained.

Mubarak's earlier trial ended in early June 2012, when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the maximum amount of jail time in Egypt. The former president challenged the ruling, and the courts granted him a retrial.

Mubarak's retrial on Saturday was indefinitely adjourned after presiding judge Mostafa Hassan withdrew from the case and referred it to a lower court.
Mubarak, who was toppled in January, 2011, during the Arab Spring uprising, has suffered several health scares and MENA even reported him clinically dead at one point. He is currently being treated at a military hospital here.