Court considers Mubarak release

Egyptian militants ambush, shoot dead 25 police officers

CAIRO Jailed ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could be released later this week, judicial officials said Monday, a move that would fuel the unrest roiling the country after the autocratic leader’s successor was removed in a military coup.

Underscoring the growing anger over Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, suspected Islamic militants ambushed two minibuses carrying offduty police officers in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, forcing the men to lie on the sand and shooting 25 of them dead.

The brazen daylight attack raised fears that the strategic desert region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip could be plunged into insurgency.

The 25 were given a funeral with full military honours after a plane brought their bodies to an airbase in eastern Cairo.

The coffins of the victims were draped in red, white and black Egyptian flags and, in a show of solidarity, were jointly carried in the funeral procession by soldiers and policemen. Earlier, relatives and friends wept over the coffins.

Despite the violence, Cairo, a bustling metropolis of 18 million people, began to restore a sense of normalcy although the capital remained under a state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

During his decades ruling Egypt, Mubarak frequently warned that Egypt would fall into chaos without him at the helm.

The 85-year-old former president has been in detention since April 2011, weeks after he was ousted in a revolution against his rule.

He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in June last year for his failure to stop the killing of 900 protesters in the 18-day uprising. His sentence was overturned on appeal and he is now being retried.

Two judicial officials, however, said there will no longer be any grounds to hold the former president if a court accepts a petition by his lawyer requesting his release.