CAIRO, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Hosni Mubarak, former president of Egypt, will be retried on embezzlement charges after an appeals court Tuesday overturned a 2014 conviction.
Egypt's Court of Cassation ruled Mubarak, who received a three-year sentence in a previous trial, and his sons Gamal and Alaa, who receive four-year sentences, will be retried with four other defendants on charges of embezzling $17.9 million allotted to renovation of presidential palaces. Mubarak, 86, has been in a military hospital since the earlier trials were conducted, and has already been incarcerated long enough to be released on the basis of time served.
Mubarak led Egypt from 1981 to 2011 before his ouster in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Assuming his release, it would mark the first time an Egyptian president would be alive after his tenure and able to speak and live freely; all prior to Mubarak have died in office or left it under in custody. Mubarak's opportunity to publicly defend his administration, voice opinion and rouse loyalists could present a problem for current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
In 2012 Mubarak was convicted of giving orders to kill terrorists during the 2011 revolution and was given a life sentence, a verdict which has since been overturned.
