Egypt General Prosecutor's office agrees to release former President Mubarak - UPDATE: Mubarak released

Sputnik
Mon, 13 Mar 2017 16:09 UTC

© REUTERS/ Amr Abdallah Dalsh

The Egyptian General Prosecutor's Office agreed Monday to release the country's former President Hosni Mubarak, Al-Watan newspaper reported.

In February 2011, Mubarak resigned amid ongoing protests in the country and the following year he received a life sentence for "failure to stop the killings" during the 18-day uprising in 2011 that left over 800 people dead. The court's decision was appealed by ex-president lawmakers and a new trial was ordered.

In 2014, Mubarak was discharged on every count of being involved in the killing of the demonstrators. The Prosecutor General's Office appealed the court's decision, claiming a number of procedural irregularities had taken place.

In early March 2017, the Egyptian Court of Cassation acquitted Mubarak of charges of complicity in the deaths of protesters.

Comment: Also see: Egypt's court acquits ex-President Mubarak on charges of 2011 protester killings

Update (March 21): Mubarak has been released, kinda:

Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak has been released from military hospital and returned to his home three weeks after being acquitted on charges of complicity in protesters deaths during the 2011 unrest, Egyptian media reported Tuesday.

The ex-president was accompanied by his son Gamal and wife Suzanne Thabet on his release early Tuesday, the Youm7 daily cited sources close to Mubarak's family as saying.

Mubarak, 88, was reportedly transported on a specially equipped medical service vehicles, while his home in the Heliopolis district in Cairo has also been furnished with medical equipment.

Later in the day, lawyer of the former president Farid Deeb said that Mubarak has not returned home and is staying in the military hospital.

"Mubarak is still at the Maadi military hospital. The information that his son Gamal and his personal doctor accompanied Mubarak to Heliopolis is absolutely false," Deeb said, as quoted by the Egyptian Al Shorouk newspaper.