Court overturns Mubarak corruption verdict and orders retrial

CAIRO // An Egyptian appeals court has overturned a three-year prison sentence against ousted president Hosni Mubarak on corruption charges, and ordered a retrial in the sole case pending against him.

Though Tuesday’s ruling paved the way for the 86-year-old’s imminent release, however, there was no explicit statement from the authorities that he would leave as a free man from the Cairo hospital where he has been held. There were also conflicting statements by officials on whether the release would actually take place.

An official at the chief prosecutor’s office said that “paperwork was being processed” for Mr Mubarak’s release, but declined to speculate when – and if – that would happen.

Meanwhile, an unnamed security official told the state-run MENA news agency that the former leader will remain in detention for the time being.

“The ruling of the Appeals Court didn’t include the release and it is in the hands of the general prosecution or the new court handling the case,” MENA quoted the official as saying.

The apparent confusion over Mr Mubarak’s release stems from discrepancies in calculating the time he spent in pretrial detention and on legal technicalities related to his status – whether he was in detention over corruption charges or not – when he was referred to court.

Supporters of Mr Mubarak broke into cheers on Tuesday and chanted “Long live justice!” as the court announced its decision.

A lower court had handed down the jail sentence against Mr Mubarak in May last year after convicting him of embezzling money earmarked for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

It had also given four-year jail sentences to the former leader’s sons, Alaa and Gamal. Four other defendants in the corruption case have been acquitted.

In November, another court dropped murder charges against Mr Mubarak over the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his three decades of autocratic rule.

But defence lawyer Farid Al Deeb said that his client ought to go free as he “has already served” three years in detention, including the time he spent in custody awaiting trial.

“But he will remain in hospital because he is not feeling well,” Mr Al Deeb added.

A legal expert said there was no reason why Mr Mubarak should remain detained.

“Legally he should be released because he has either served his time or nearly finished it, and according to the law he could be released after serving two-thirds of his time,” said Gamal Eid from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

“Holding him in custody will be illegal. They could release him without announcing it, but if he remains in custody, this could be due to the political pressure,” he said.

In 2011, there were mass protests demanding Mr Mubarak’s prosecution after he retired to a mansion in the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Sheikh following the Arab Spring uprising that forced him from power.

He was detained two months later and ordered to stand trial.

The court later ruled that prosecutors should not have added Mr Mubarak’s name to the list of defendants in the murder trial, after originally charging only his security chiefs.

The seven security commanders, including feared former interior minister Habib Al Adly, were all acquitted.

The corruption case – dubbed by the Egyptian media as the “presidential palaces” affair – is linked to charges that Mr Mubarak and his two sons embezzled millions of dollars’ worth of state funds over the course of a decade toward the end of the former president’s rule. The funds were meant to pay for renovating and maintaining presidential palaces but were instead allegedly spent on upgrading the family’s private residences.

Mr Mubarak and his sons were fined 21.1 million Egyptian pounds (Dh10.8m) and ordered to reimburse 125m pounds to the state treasury.

The Mubaraks had previously returned around 120m pounds to the state in connection with the case in the hope that the charges would be dropped, but the proceedings against them continued anyway.

But the former army chief’s promise of strong leadership has appealed to many Egyptians weary of the years of political turmoil and economic decline that followed the uprising.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press