The Cairo criminal courtroom ordered the release of Gamal, Mubarak’s one-time inheritor obvious, & his brother Alaa, a rich businessman, after they have been sentenced in May to 3 years of time of time in jail every, in a corruption case dubbed the “presidential palaces” affair by the Egyptian media.
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In May, the former president and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were all slapped with three-year jail terms for committing “financial irregularities” related to Egypt’s state budget for the maintenance of presidential palaces.
Egypt has been struck by violence ever since Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically-elected president, was toppled by the military under the leadership of Sisi in July 2013.
“The perception is that those who were responsible for major economic crimes and human rights violations under Mubarak’s dictatorship are being slapped on the hand”, said Sahar Aziz, professor of law at Texas A&M School of Law, “whereas those who attempted to overthrow the regime…are being heavily penalised”.
Farid al-Dib, a lawyer for the younger Mubaraks, said that both Alaa and Gamal would likely be released later on Monday. The two Mubarak sons would, however, still await the outcome of an appeal in the case.
In an earlier court case, his two sons were acquitted of charges of killing protesters during the uprising.
But the convictions were overturned in January by the Court of Cassation, which found that legal procedures had not been followed properly and ordered a retrial.
Their father was ordered released as he had already spent three years in pre-trial detention.
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The brothers still face charges of insider trading.
