Court upholds Mubarak's release over illicit gains

CAIRO - An Egyptian court decided Thursday to support a previous court order to release ex-president Hosni Mubarak over investigations of illicit gains, official MENA news agency reported.

Cairo Criminal Court declined an appeal by the prosecution against Tuesday's decision of North Cairo Misdemeanor Court to temporarily release the former president over illicit gains charges. ?

Similarly, in mid-April, a court decided to temporarily release Mubarak over responsibility of killing protesters in the January 2011 upheaval that led to his downfall.

However, the ex-president will have to stay in custody over other charges, mainly the looting of public funds allocated for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

"He will not be completely released at the moment, as his temporary detention over the case of presidential palaces' funds will start today," Mubarak's lawyers Farid al-Deeb told Xinhua on Thursday.

"Now the release of former Mubarak over the cases of killing protesters and illicit gains is final," Deeb said.

Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case in June 2012 but he appealed the verdict, and the court accepted his appeal and decided for a retrial that started in May. The coming retrial session is scheduled for July 6.