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Former Egyptian President Mubarak freed after 6 years in detention

Egypt

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has left the Cairo military hospital where he spent most of his six years in prison, his lawyer Farid al-Deeb said on Friday.

An Egyptian court decided earlier this month to release Mubarak, 88, after his acquittal by the Court of Cassation for the death of protestors in 2011 during the revolt that caused his fall.

He was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder demonstrators, sowing chaos and creating a security vacuum during an 18-day revolt which began in January 2011, but an appeals court ordered a retrial.

The former long time Egyptian ruler has long maintained his innocence in the case and has said history would judge him a patriot who served his country selflessly.

An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the reopening of corruption investigation against Mubarak but maintained that the decision will not affect the decision of the public prosecutor’s office to release Mubarak.

The new investigation concerns allegations that he, his wife, two sons and daughters-in-law received gifts from the government daily Al-Ahram worth about $ 1 million.

In 2013, an judge agreed to abandon the investigation after the money was returned by the parties concerned, but the prosecution appealed.

Mubarak is also the subject of another investigation for unlawful gain, but has not been brought before the courts for that case.

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