In this Nov. 29, 2014 file photo, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 86, lies on a gurney, next to his son Gamal, second left, in the defendants cage, during a court hearing in Cairo
Egyptian authorities have exhausted all legal grounds to keep deposed President Hosni Mubarak in detention after an appeals court yesterday ordered his retrial in a corruption case, a judicial official said.
The corruption case was the only one still keeping Mubarak behind bars. The autocratic former president has already been cleared over the killings of protesters during Egypt’s 2011 uprising that toppled him.
The ruling yesterday by the Appeals Court — a top court based in Cairo — overturned an earlier verdict, which had sentenced Mubarak to three years’ imprisonment and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, to four years in prison each while four other defendants in the case were acquitted. Mubarak’s lawyers had appealed that verdict.
Though the ruling paved way for Mubarak’s imminent release, there was no explicit statement from the authorities that he would leave the hospital in Cairo where he was held in custody a free man. There were also conflicting remarks over whether the release would take place.
An official at the chief prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press that “paperwork was being processed” for Mubarak’s release. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, declined to speculate if and when that could happen.
However, an unnamed security official told the state-run news agency MENA that Mubarak will remain in detention since the Appeals Court ruling didn’t include a release order. Maggie Michael, Cairo, AP
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