Egypt's Hosni Mubarak released after six years

March 24 (UPI) -- Long-time Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, ousted in the Arab Spring uprising, was released after being imprisoned and held at a military hospital for six years.

Mubarak, 88, left the Maadi military hospital in Cairo on Friday morning, where he spent most of his detention, and returned to his home in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, his lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, said. Mubarak was formally freed by Egyptian prosecutors on March 13.

Mubarak ruled Egypt for nearly three decades, culminating in a long-running trial in which he was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy in the deaths of 239 people protesting his leadership. He was acquitted by Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, the country's highest appeals court, on March 2. An official investigation later concluded that 846 people died and 6,467 were injured in the protests. Mubarak was the first Egyptian leader to face trial for violently attempting to contain the uprisings. The uprisings are now considered to have been dominated by jihadists, and led to the election of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi. Morsi's administration was toppled by a military coup, led by current leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in 2015.

A separate charge of corruption against Mubarak was overturned in 2015.

There was no report on Mubarak's health as he left detention. During trials he often appeared frail, sometimes arriving in court on a stretcher or wearing dark glasses.