Mubarak free again six years after his overthrow

OUSTED Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was freed from custody yesterday after six years of legal proceedings, frustrating activists who had hoped he would face justice for the deaths of hundreds of protesters.

The ailing 88-year-old Mubarak left the Armed Forces Hospital in Cairo’s southern suburb of Maadi and went to his home in the upscale Heliopolis district under heavy security, according to an Egyptian security official.

The former autocrat was overthrown in 2011 after 30 years in power. On March 2, Egypt’s top appeals court acquitted him of charges that he ordered the killing of protesters during that uprising. A criminal court ruled in May 2015 that he should serve three years for embezzling funds and he was released yesterday for time served.

Mubarak’s lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, told the Al-Masry al-Youm daily that the former president had returned home with his sons, Alaa and Gamal, and the entire family, including Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, celebrated his return by having breakfast together.