Court frees Mubarak’s sons

CAIRO: An Egyptian court ordered on Thursday the release of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s two sons pending their retrial on corruption charges, a judicial official said.
Their lawyer Farid al-Deeb told AFP Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were free to leave prison after the court order because they had served the maximum pretrial detention period.
Earlier this month, an appeals court ordered their retrial, along with their father, overturning a lower court conviction that saw the two given four-year jail sentences.
Deeb said the elder Mubarak, who is in a military hospital, would also be a free man, but state media reported that there had been no orders yet for his release.
In November, a court also dropped murder charges against the former president over the deaths of some of the roughly 800 protesters killed during the uprising that unseated him in 2011.
Along with Mubarak, seven security commanders were acquitted of involvement in those deaths.
Alaa and Gamal still face a separate trial for stock market manipulation.
The release of the Mubaraks presents a dilemma for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief whom opponents accuse of reviving Mubarak-era practices.