Former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, has been sentenced to three years in jail on corruption charges after a retrial in Cairo.
His sons were given four years each in the same case which centres on the embezzlement of $14million (£9.3million) earmarked for renovation of presidential palaces, the BBC reports.
The original conviction was overturned on January 13 over legal procedures.
This was the last court case hanging over Mubarak, who was toppled in the 2011 uprising.
An Egyptian court ordered on Tuesday a retrial in an embezzlement case against Hosni Mubarak, dropping the only remaining conviction faced by the ousted former president and potentially leading to his release.
Mubarak was sentenced to three years in jail in May for stealing public funds to renovate family properties.
He has been serving that sentence in a military hospital in Cairo, the BBC reports.
Now a retrial has been ordered, judicial sources say Mubarak could walk free as no convictions against him remain.
In November, another court dropped charges against Mubarak for conspiring to kill protesters in the 2011 uprising that removed him from power and cleared him in two graft cases. It was not clear if Mubarak would remain in detention pending retrials.
Protests erupted at universities across Egypt on Sunday, condemning a court decision to drop criminal charges against Hosni Mubarak, the president whose ouster in the 2011 uprising raised hopes of a new era of political openness.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Cairo University, waving pictures of Mubarak behind bars and demanding the “fall of the regime,” the rallying cry of the Arab Spring uprisings that shook governments from Tunisia to the Gulf in 2011.
Police stood ready at the gates to bar students that sought to take their demonstration into the streets, Reuters reports.
An Egyptian court on Saturday dropped its case against Mubarak over the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.
The ruling was seen by activists as the latest sign that the rights won during the revolt are being eroded.
While the decision could be met with a rebuke from Washington, it is unlikely to upend a relationship that has strengthened during the United States-led campaign against Islamic State.
Cairo’s strong public support for the campaign demonstrates how far Egypt has come in restoring its place as a premier U.S partner in the Arab world since last year’s authoritarian crackdown in Egypt and military takeover.
Although the U.S was a proponent of the Arab Spring, Washington in June renewed ties with Cairo and its current government, led by another strongman, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
In Tahir Square, the symbolic heart of the revolt that ousted Mubarak, two people were killed and nine wounded on Saturday evening, when security forces fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse about 1,000 protesters who attempted to enter the area.
Security forces closed a Cairo metro station, the state news agency said, an apparent effort to prevent gatherings downtown.
Clashes also erupted at Zagazig University in the Nile Delta, and the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said 11 students were detained after setting fire to a building.
Many Egyptians who lived through the rule of former airforce officer Mubarak view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election. But the winner, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted last year by Sisi, another military officer who won a presidential vote in May.
Egyptian authorities have since jailed Mursi and thousands of his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, sentencing hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.
A court in Egypt has dismissed the case against former President Hosni Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising against him, the BBC reports.
The courtroom erupted in cheers when the judge concluded Mubarak’s retrial by dismissing the charges which relate to the deaths of hundreds of people.
He was also cleared of a corruption charge involving gas exports to Israel.
Mubarak, 86, is serving a separate three-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds.
The court, which met at a Cairo police academy, also cleared Mubarak’s former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly, and six other security officials of wrongdoing over the deaths in 2011.
Mubarak and his former interior minister were convicted of conspiracy to kill and sentenced to life in prison in June 2012 but a retrial was ordered last year.
Relatives of those killed in 2011 had awaited Saturday’s verdict with trepidation.
Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali, whose wife was killed, had little faith in the judiciary, believing it simply did the government’s bidding.
“The regime is the same,” he told AP news agency. “Names have changed but everything is the same.”
Amal Shaker, mother of 25-year-old Ahmed who was fatally shot in the back during the 2011 uprising, said before the announcement that she was still waiting for justice.
“Youth that were like flowers were killed,” she told AP news agency. “Four years have passed, where is the trial?”
Mubarak’s elected successor as president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi, lasted only a year in power before being ousted by the military in July 2013 during mass anti-government protests.
An Egyptian court yesterday banned leaders of the country’s former ruling party under ousted President Hosni Mubarak from running in any elections, a vague ruling that could bar former officials of that regime from returning to politics for the time being.
The ban comes as Egypt prepares for presidential elections later this month. Former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who removed Mubarak’s successor, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi — is poised to win the vote.
The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that leaders of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party cannot run in any presidential, parliamentary or local city council elections. The ruling is binding until a higher tribunal issues a final verdict on the matter, and it is highly likely that a higher court will overturn it because it violates a principle of equal political rights granted by the constitution.
It did not however define what constituted being a party leader, making it hard for the coming election committee to implement it. A previous court case attempting to ban NDP members from politics for a period was shot down by the constitutional court.
While the NDP was disbanded and its offices shut down in 2011, months after an uprising toppled the autocratic Mubarak, its members could still run in elections. Some formed new parties, struck alliances with existing parties or ran as independents in the last parliamentary elections, in 2011.
No date has been set yet for parliamentary elections. However, experts fear that in the absence of strong liberal-leaning parties and the boycott of Islamists, there is room in the coming parliament for former members of Mubarak’s regime to secure seats.
The court ruling comes a day after el-Sissi gave the first TV interview of his campaign, saying that under his rule, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood will make no comeback.
El-Sissi’s comments gave a stark signal of his intention to eliminate the 86-year-old Brotherhood as both a political and ideological force in the country. The group faces an unprecedented popular resentment, following its meteoric rise and fall from power over the past three years.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is to be put under house arrest following a court order to release him in a corruption case, officials say.
The prime minister’s office said the measure would be taken “in the context of the emergency law” currently in place across the country.
Mr. Mubarak, 85, is expected to be released from prison later on Thursday.
He still faces charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted him in 2011.
He was sentenced to life in jail last year, but a retrial was later ordered after his appeal was upheld.
That retrial opened in May but Mr. Mubarak has now served the maximum amount of pre-trial detention permitted in the case.
The office of Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi made its announcement late on Wednesday.
“In the context of the emergency law, the deputy military commander issued an order that Hosni Mubarak should be put under house arrest,” the office said in a statement.
Egypt is under a state of emergency amid the bloodshed which has accompanied the interim government’s crackdown on Islamists opposed to the army’s ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on July 3.
Hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood – the movement from which Mr. Morsi comes – have been detained including its most senior leader Mohammed Badie, who was wanted over alleged incitement to violence and murder
The retrial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has opened at a court in Cairo, the BBC reports.
Mr. Mubarak faces charges of complicity in the killings of protesters in the January 2011 uprising which overthrew him and of financial corruption. The trial has been adjourned until June 8.
Mr. Mubarak was convicted in June 2012 but a retrial was ordered on appeal.
State TV, which broadcast the trial live, said he entered court sitting on a stretcher.
The retrial began amid a tense atmosphere and high emotions in court, as the judge urged lawyers to stop shouting, the BBC reports.
The prosecutor then read out a list of charges against the accused. Mr. Mubarak and the others standing trial with him pleaded not guilty.
The judge said that the adjournment was needed to consider new information presented by the prosecution.
The trial is being held at a police academy on the outskirts of the capital.
Mr. Mubarak’s first retrial collapsed in April amid chaotic scenes as the presiding judge referred the case to another court.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah said he was referring the trial to the Cairo appeals court as he felt “unease” in reviewing the case.
Mr. Mubarak’s former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six aides are also being retried on the charges relating to the killing of protesters in 2011. Mr. Al-Adly also faces corruption charges.
About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown.
Much more of this chaos and the army will be back
President Mohamed Morsi’s declaration of a month-long state of emergency in three Suez Canal cities after a weekend of lethal violence is a depressing way to mark the second anniversary of the Tahrir Square revolution.
While it is not intrinsic evidence of involution, after 30 years of emergency rule by Hosni Mubarak, the toppled former president, and amid authoritarian reflexes by Mr Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood- led government, it is an alarming index of a downward spiral into chaos that could tempt the army back on to the political stage.
Quite simply, there is no sign of the stability Egypt needs to revive investment and create jobs. Nor is it clear who rules Egypt. There are still three power centres: a presidency that acts as an extension of the Brotherhood; the generals; and a fragmented secular opposition of small parties and street activists. A controversially dissolved parliament awaits new elections. Vital institutions such as the police and the judiciary need to be reformed.
The worst violence at the weekend followed death sentences handed down to Port Said football hooligans convicted in the deaths of dozens of rivals in February. That attack was widely seen as a police-facilitated reprisal against the Cairo al-Ahli team’s “ultras”, whose street-fighting skills helped topple the Mubarak regime. Such incidents proliferate amid the chaos and the lack of a consensus to confront it. Mr Morsi and the Brotherhood, through their naked power grabs and secretive decision-making, seem to regard Egypt’s institutions as their own. The opposition fails to articulate an alternative, riding the backlash against Islamist over-reach.
As this sterile political struggle rages, the economy is on its knees. A long negotiated IMF loan is not yet in place. It would require a socially explosive rationalisation of subsidies that eat up a quarter of the budget. Food and fuel-price inflation is high, and the currency is under strain. Egypt is kept afloat by transfers from Qatar, protecting its investment in the Brotherhood – not quite the “dignity revolution” Egyptians envisaged.
Some of this turmoil was unavoidable; Egypt is trying to emerge from a desert of despotism. But Mr Morsi does not have much time left to prove mainstream Islamists can govern – and for all Egyptians. The opposition, some of whose leaders applauded the constitutional court’s dissolution last year of an elected parliament, should not crow either. If both camps cannot build a workable consensus, they will both go down together.
– Financial Times