Egypt prosecutors to decide on Mubarak release: Interior ministry official

CAIRO - Reuters

Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak sits inside a dock at the police academy on the outskirts of Cairo, in this file picture taken April 15, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak will be released from jail if no new charges are brought against him, an interior ministry official said Aug. 21 after a court order him freed.

Assistant interior minister for prison affairs Mostafa Baz said Mubarak would not be released from prison on Aug. 21 because government offices had already closed.

"Today, it's finished, because official government work has ended," the police general told state television in an interview.

"There will be coordination with the state prosecution on whether he will be freed or if he is wanted on other cases," he said.

In the past, when courts have approved Mubarak's release, prosecutors have leveled new charges to keep him in detention.

Last year, Mubarak was convicted of complicity in the deaths of some of the 850 people killed in the 2011 uprising that overthrew him, as well as on charges of corruption.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but an appeals court ordered a retrial on technicalities. In all he was facing four charges, but has paid back the value of gifts he was said to have received in one of the corruption cases, effectively ending that one.

He had already been ordered released on bail in the other three cases. But even if he is freed, he still faces trial on those charges and his next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25.