CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s two sons who were sentenced to three years in jail for corruption, a judicial official and their lawyer said.

The court ordered Alaa and Gamal Mubarak to be released after having taken into account time served since their arrest in 2011, the judicial official and defence lawyer Farid al-Deeb said. “Yes, the court has ordered their release,” Deeb said.

He insisted that Alaa and Gamal — seen as symbols of corruption under their father’s three-decade rule — have served their time in prison and should be allowed to go free.

A security official said the brothers could be freed as early as “today (Monday) or tomorrow”, depending on how quickly their release is processed.

Mubarak and his two sons were all arrested in 2011, months after the former strongman was toppled in a popular 18-day uprising. In May, a court sentenced the trio to three years in prison each for having embezzled 125 million Egyptian pounds ($16m) from funds meant for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

Published in Dawn, October 13th , 2015

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