EGYPT’S DECISION ON MUBARAK RELEASE IN 48 HOURS

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 86, lies on a gurney in the defendants cage during a court hearing in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 (Photo: AP)

Cairo, 9 Safar 1436/2 December 2014 (MINA) -Egypt’s prosecutor-general will issue a decision on ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s release within 48 hours, a judical source told Ahram Online, Monday.

Wael Shebl – the first attorney-general of central Cairo’s prosecution office – said prosecutors have begun calculating the period Mubarak spent in preventative detention in order to deduct it from an earlier prison sentence, Ahram online quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

In May, the 86-year-old former dictator was sentenced to three years in jail for embezzling public funds allocated for the upkeep of presidential palaces.

He was detained, pending trial, from April 2011 to August 2013, and was then transferred to house arrest after the preventative detention period expired.

Under Egypt’s criminal proceedings law, this detention period is regarded as time served and will be deducted from the sentence. However, it is still unclear how much time Mubarak has left.

On Saturday, a court dropped charges against Mubarak over involvement in killing protesters during the January 2011 uprising. He was also acquitted over graft charges related to gas exports to Israel at below-market rates.

Since the verdict, thousands of Egyptians took to the streets chanting against Mubarak release of all charges. They are centered in Tahrir Square where hundreds of people had lost their lives during the 2011 revolution.

In addition to the protest, hundreds of people would conduct such protes in countering Tahrir-centered demonstration in support the regime release. (T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)