Deposed Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak is expected to leave jail today after a court ruling that jolted a divided nation already in turmoil seven weeks after the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Convening yesterday at the Cairo jail where Mubarak is held, the court upheld a petition from his lawyer demanding the release of the man who ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was overthrown during the uprisings in early 2011.
Mubarak’s lawyer, Fareed al-Deeb confirmed the court order as he left Tora prison after the session. Asked when Mubarak would go free, he told Reuters: “Maybe tomorrow (today)”.
It would be recalled that the former president, 85, was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of demonstrators. But a court accepted his appeal earlier this year and ordered a retrial.
Many Egyptians would see his release as the rehabilitation of an old order that endured through six decades of military-backed rule – and even a reversal of the pro-democracy revolt that toppled him.
At least 900 people, including 100 soldiers and police, have been killed in a crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood in the past week, making it Egypt’s bloodiest civil episode in decades.
Mubarak is still being retried on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the revolt against him. But he has already served the maximum pre-trial detention in that case.
The court ruling removed the last legal ground for his imprisonment in connection with a corruption case, following a similar decision in another corruption case on Monday.