Egypt court orders release of former president’s sons News
Egypt court orders release of former president’s sons

[JURIST] An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release of former president Hosni Mubarak’s [BBC profile] sons, Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, after holding that they had completed their three-year prison sentences on embezzlement.The Cairo criminal court sentenced [JURIST report] Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to three years in prison on corruption charges during a retrial in May, but they had already spent three years in prison for other convictions.The original trial, which took place last year, resulted in a guilty verdict[JURIST report] for embezzling millions of dollars of public money by diverting public funds and using the money to upgrade family properties. The brothers still face insider trading charges.

Mubarak and other members of his administration have been the subject of controversial judicial proceedings since the Egyptian Revolution [JURIST backgrounder]. In January a court in Egypt overturned [JURIST report] the May 2014 convictions of embezzlement for former president Mubarak and ordered a retrial. In December 2013 an Egyptian court acquitted [JURIST report] former Egyptian prime minister and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq and Alaa and Gamal Mubarak of charges of embezzling public funds. In August 2013 Mubarak appeared in court for his retrial on complicity charges [JURIST report] in the killing of more than 100 protesters during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. The same week Mubarak was released from prison and placed under house arrest [JURIST report] at a military hospital after a court concluded that he served the maximum in time allowed in connection with the long-pending corruption case.