Egyptian court releases ex-Prez Mubarak’s sons in embezzlement case

An Egyptian court on Tuesday ordered the release of Alaa Mubarak and Gamal Mubarak, sons of former president Hosni Mubarak in an embezzlement case, after rejecting the government’s appeal against freeing them.

Mubarak and his sons were charged of acquiring almost 126 million Egyptian pounds from the presidential palace budget and using the money for the construction and development of family-owned assets.

They were also charged with forging official documents and damaging public property.

In May 2014, Mubarak and his sons each were sentenced to three years in a maximum security prison on these embezzlement charges.

Collectively, they were fined Egyptian 125 million pounds and are required to repay Egyptian 21 million pounds.

In 2015, the criminal court ordered their release, but the verdict was appealed by the general prosecutor.

The court on Tuesday refused the appeal and confirmed the release of Mubarak’s two sons.

Mubarak was Egypt’s president for nearly 30 years before being ousted by Mohammed Morsi in an uprising in 2011 following mass protests against his rule.