CAIRO: In a move that has already seen activists voice anger and contempt at the judicial system in Egypt, former dictator Hosni Mubarak is to be freed pending a retrial in his case for killing protesters in the January 2011 uprising that ousted him from power. A Cairo court approved on Saturday the release of Mubarak, accepting his appeal to be released pending trial, the former president is currently arrested for charges of graft and corruption. The Cairo Criminal Court ruled last week the release of Mubarak in the case of the killing of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in 2011, but remained locked up on remand in cases of graft and waste of public money and presidential palaces. For Ahmed Anwar, a 23-year-old recent German University in Cairo graduate who lost two friends during the 18-days of revolution that saw Mubarak forced from the presidential palace, it is a sign that little has changed. “We fought, bled and died for change in this country and yet, if the court really goes through with releasing a person who killed his own people, was convicted of it and yet the corrupt system we live in has allowed him to reverse these decisions,” he told Bikyanews.com. “I am in shock and saddened.” The former president was sent back to Tora Prison's, where he is currently held and has not been released. Mubarak had already spent time in prison exceeding the legal limit for custody detention, but he was kept in custody due to involvement in other charges. Anwar argued that the court and prosecution, “if they want to stand for the Egyptian people, should make Mubarak wait in jail just like he did those thousands he arrested and tortured.” A judicial source said that the prosecutor-general would challenge Mubarak's release verdict, reported Al-Jazeera. BN
