Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been freed and has left a military hospital in southern Cairo, returning to his home in the northern suburb of Heliopolis, his lawyer has confirmed.
Mubarak, 88, was acquitted earlier this month after Egypt’s top court cleared him over the deaths of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ousted him.
The former dictator became president in 1981 after Anwar Sadat’s assassination, but was ousted from power following the uprisings of the Arab Spring. He was succeeded by democratically-elected Mohammed Morsi who was later ousted by a military coup led by Egypt’s current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
The news of Mubarak’s freedom comes as an Egyptian court ordered the reopening of a corruption investigation against him, according to officials yesterday.
The investigation concerns allegations that he, his wife, two sons and daughters-in-law received gifts from the government worth about $1 million.
In 2013, a judge agreed to abandon the investigation after the money was returned by the parties concerned but the prosecution has successfully appealed.
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