SHAFAQNA – Egypt’s longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, who was deposed in the January 25 revolution in 2011, could be freed and allowed to go home within hours, a judicial source told media.
Farid al-Dib, Mubarak’s lawyer, had filed a successful request with the east Cairo prosecutor to include the detention time Mubarak spent prior to sentencing in his total time served.
News of Mubarak’s imminent release comes after he was acquitted over the more serious charge of killing protesters.
A judicial source told The New Arab the ruling to release Mubarak follows the court of cassation’s verdict acquitting Mubarak.
If the court does not order his detention in relation to other pending charges, Mubarak could be allowed to return home in Heliopolis within a day or two, the source added.
Hundreds of protesters were killed in clashes with police and Mubarak supporters during the 18-day uprising in 2011, part of the Arab Spring protests that swept the region.Led by then defence minister and current president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a military coup overthrew Mubarak’s freely elected successor, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013.
Sisi, who is seen as sympathetic to Mubarak, has since presided over an often-violent crackdown on dissidents, with hundreds killed and thousands thrown in prison.