Cairo: An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release of the two sons of former president Hosni Mubarak pending their re-trial on charges of corruption.
The Criminal Court said Ala’a and Jamal Mubarak would be released from prison unless they are wanted for other cases. Both are being tried in another corruption case related to alleged insider trading.
The same court on Monday adjourned until July 6 the hearings of Mubarak’s retrial for alleged complicity in the killing of peaceful protesters in a revolt against him in early 2011. Mubarak’s interior minister Habib Al Adly and six former security chiefs face the same charges.
An estimated 846 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured during the revolt that eventually forced Mubarak to step down in February 2011.
During Monday’s session, the third in the high-profile re-trial, chief judge Mahmoud Al Rasheedi unsealed new evidence related to the case, including footage taken by surveillance cameras during the anti-Mubarak protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
The judge said that the defence lawyers would be given two weeks starting from June 15 to look into the new evidence.
Al Rasheedi told the audience: “We will not deviate from the course of justice. We will not pay heed to noise or clamour as we wait for reward from God only. Pray for us to administer justice in the case.”
Mubarak and Al Adly were last year sentenced to life in prison on charges of failing to prevent the protester killings. In January this year, Egypt’s highest court granted their appeals and ordered their re-trial.
Mubarak, 85, is staying at the hospital of the Turah Prison in southern Cairo from where he is transported by a helicopter to attend his re-trial hearings at the Police Academy on the outskirts of Cairo.
