Egypt: Second court orders Mubarak’s release

A court has ordered the release of Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak pending further investigation into corruption charges. However, he will continue to be held in prison in two other corruption cases.

The decision by the court in Nasr City yesterday came days after another court ordered Mubarak’s release pending his retrial in a separate case which alleges he was responsible for the deaths of nearly 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. In that case, an appeals court threw out a life sentence passed in January, and ordered a new trial, set to resume on 11 May.

Egypt’s prosecutor general Talaat Abdullah plans to appeal the latest release order by a misdemeanours court, which can fine or imprison someone found guilty of a civil offence.

Mubarak (left) has been in detention since 2011 and is currently in Tora prison in Cairo. Judicial sources were quoted as saying that Judge Mahmud al-Rashidi will preside over the case at the North Cairo Criminal Court.