Court orders retrial of case against former Egyptian President Mubarak

An Egyptian court on Tuesday overturned a three-year prison sentence against ousted president Hosni Mubarak on corruption charges and ordered a retrial. A lower court had handed down the jail term in May last year after convicting him of embezzling more than 100 million Egyptian pounds (US$14 million) earmarked for the maintenance of presidential palaces. The judge said too much time had elapsed since the alleged crime took place for the court to rule on the matter.

I did nothing wrong at all. But, we cannot change destiny. When I heard the previous ruling I laughed. This time I was just waiting. I felt indifferent. It is all in the hands of God.

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in an interview with a local TV station last November

Now that a retrial has been ordered, judicial sources say Mubarak could walk free as no convictions against him remain. It is not clear if his sons, Alaa and Gamal, will also have their four-year jail sentences overturned. In November, another court dropped charges against Mubarak for conspiring to kill protesters in the 2011 uprising that removed him from power, and cleared him in two graft cases.

Middle East Mubarak