Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, who is under investigation over an increase in his personal wealth since 2011, filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the minister of justice and the general prosecution to unfreese 61 million Egyptian pounds of his assets. Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal filed the suit alleging that the continued freeze on their assets is in defiance of the law. A court has set 23 March to discuss the lawsuit, which names Egypt's Central Clearing, Depository and Registry Company, the minister of justice, the prosecutor-general and East Cairo's attorney general as the defendants, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported on Thursday. Egypt's Central Clearing, Depository and Registry Company has been the legal custodian of Mubarak and his family's shares in the Egyptian stock market since the prosecutor-general ordered the asset freeze on Mubarak and his family in February 2011. The asset freeze came with corruption charges filed against Mubarak shortly after the 25 January revolution of 2011. On Monday, the prosecutor-general ordered Mubarak's release following his acquittal earlier this month on charges of killing protesters during the 25 January Revolution. Since his ouster in 2011, Mubarak stood trial in a number of criminal cases on various charges, but has received only one final conviction in a corruption charge. In January 2016, the Court of Cassation upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons for using public funds- slated for the maintenance of presidential palaces- to upgrade their private properties. Mubarak was released as his sentence in the presidential palaces case was considered already served due to the time he spent in detention pending investigation. Following the verdict in that case, Mubarak's sons were also released for time served, as they had already been behind bars for more than three years pending investigation. Mubarak is still banned from travel pending investigations by the Illicit Gains Authority into the increase in his personal wealth since the 2011 revolution, according to his lawyer Farid El-Deeb. Prior to his release, the 88-year-old Mubarak was confined to Maadi Military Hospital for treatment since 2012. The former autocrat ruled Egypt from 1981 until a popular uprising ousted him on 11 February 2011. Source: Ahram online
