A Cairo prosecutor has ordered the release of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, ending nearly six years of legal proceedings against the long-ruling autocrat.
Egypt’s official news agency said Ibrahim Saleh ordered the release on Monday after he accepted a petition by Mr Mubarak’s lawyer for his freedom on the basis of time already served.
Mr Mubarak, 88, was acquitted by the country’s top appeals court on March 2 of charges that he ordered the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 29-year rule.
The petition argued that Mr Mubarak’s three-year sentence for embezzling state funds has been served while in detention in connection with the protesters’ case. He has spent virtually all of the past six years in hospital since his detention in 2011.