Egypt`s Mubarak breathes freedom after six years in detention

Egypts ousted president Hosni Mubarak walked free on Friday for the first time in six years, his lawyer said.

He left the Maadi Military Hospital where he had been detained at 08:00 local time, heading to his home in Heliopolis.

Mubarak, 88 years old, who was overthrown as president of Egypt in 2011 in response to mass protests against his rule, was acquitted by the countrys top appeals court on March 2 of murder charges.

Initially arrested in April 2011, two months after stepping down, Mubarak stood trial on charges ranging from corruption to involvement in the killing of protesters who ended his 30-year rule.

Since then, he has spent almost six years in prison and military hospitals.

Mubarak has already served a three-year sentence for embezzling state funds allocated for maintaining presidential palaces, but time he had spent in detention in connection with the murder charges was subtracted from it.

He was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for ordering the murder of 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt.

In 2014, an appeals court ordered his retrial along with his senior officials. But the charges were dropped, Reuters reported.

Then the public prosecution appealed the retrial and the Court of Cassation, the highest in the country ordered his acquittal on March 2.

Source: ANTARA