Egyptian court orders Mubarrak’’ss rrell eass e

Deposed Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country for nearly three decades, moved a step closer to freedom on Wednesday after a court here ordered his release, over two years after he was jailed following a popular uprising that ousted him. A Cairo criminal court accepted an appeal by the 85-year-old former president against a recent detention order he received, setting him free. However, the court said Mubarak will be held for 48 hours to give the prosecution a chance to consider whether it will appeal the decision to release him or not. A team of judges from the Northern Cairo misdemeanour court arrived earlier today to Tora Prison, where Mubarak is detained in hospital, to look into the appeal. Mubarak, who has been on trial since August 2011, has now received release orders in all the cases in which he is investigated, for spending the maximum time in jail for a defendant pending trial. However, all trials are still ongoing, Ahram Online reported. He was released today pending investigations in a corruption case in which he is accused of illegally receiving millions of pounds worth of gifts from staterun publisher Al-Ahram. Mubarak has recently re- imbursed money equivalent to the value of the gifts to the state, which raised the possibility of him being released. The long-time autocrat, the first ruler ousted in the wave of Arab Spring uprisings to stand trial, also faces a retrial on charges of complicity in the killing of over 800 protesters during the 2011 revolution. He was sentenced to life in prison last year, but a retrial was ordered earlier this year. However, the case does not require Mubarak to remain in custody, as his lawyer successfully argued that the former leader has already spent the maximum time in prison for a defendant in pre-trial detention. His next court hearing is scheduled for August 25. If Mubarak is freed later this week, it would come only six weeks after the armed forces that he once commanded deposed his freely elected successor, Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi.