Hosni Mubarak

Cairo, (IANS) : The Egyptian general prosecutor’s office ordered the release of former President Hosni Mubarak from detention, after he was acquitted of charges of killing protesters during the 2011 revolution that led to his ouster, media reports said.

Efe news agency cited a report by state-run Middle East News Agency on Monday which stated that the general prosecution ordered Mubarak’s acquittal after deducting the period of his pre-trial detention, which started in April 2011.

After he was convicted in 2015 for seizing public funds through embezzling money specified for presidential palaces, the prosecution considered that the period he spent behind bars in pre-trial exceeds the time that he was supposed to spend in line with the court’s verdict.

On March 2, a court ruling cleared Mubarak of charges holding him responsible for giving orders to kill 239 demonstrators during the January 2011 revolution.

The ruling is final as it was Mubarak’s second retrial, which cannot be appealed, after he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012, and then acquitted of the same charges two years later.