Egypt’s former leader Mubarak freed, six years after overthrow

Egypt’s former leader Mubarak freed, six years after overthrow

March 25, 2017
This file photo taken on Oct. 6, 2016, shows Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak waving to people from his room at the Maadi military hospital in Cairo. — AFP
This file photo taken on Oct. 6, 2016, shows Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak waving to people from his room at the Maadi military hospital in Cairo. — AFP

CAIRO — Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president overthrown in 2011 and the first leader to face trial after the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region, was freed on Friday after six years in detention, his lawyer said.

He left the Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo where he had been detained, heading to his home in Heliopolis.

“Yes, he is now in his home in Heliopolis,” Mubarak’s lawyer, Farid El Deeb told Reuters when asked if Mubarak had left the hospital. Heliopolis is an upscale neighborhood where the main presidential palace from which Mubarak once governed is located.

The 88-year-old was cleared of the final murder charges against him this month, after facing trial in a litany of cases ranging from corruption to the killing of protesters whose 18-day revolt stunned the world and ended his 30-year rule.

Mubarak was initially arrested in April 2011, two months after leaving office, and has since been held in prison and in military hospitals under heavy guard.

He was sentenced to life in 2012 in the case, but an appeals court ordered a retrial which dismissed the charges two years later.

Egypt’s top appeals court on March 2 acquitted him of involvement in the killings.

In January 2016, the appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons on corruption charges.

But the sentence took into account time served. Both of his sons, Alaa and Gamal, were freed.

On Thursday, a court ordered a renewed corruption investigation into Mubarak for allegedly receiving gifts from the state owned Al-Ahram newspaper. — Agencies


March 25, 2017
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