Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may soon be a free man after three years of being either in custody or on bail, his lawyer said Sunday.
The 86-year-old Arab leader was previously facing hundreds of murder charges related to the 2011 national uprising that eventually forced him from power, but the charges were dismissed Saturday.
Mubarak is currently serving the second year of a separate three-year corruption conviction, but his lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, told reporters in Cairo that he is now eligible for early release.
“Under a recent legal amendment, there can be a release once two-thirds of a sentence has been served,” he said.
Another factor is Mubarak’s health. He is reportedly in poor condition and was carried out of the courthouse on a stretcher Saturday.
Mubarak served as Egyptian president after the assassination of the nation’s previous leader, Anwar Sadat, in 1981. Mubarak was a pro-western leader who maintained an alliance with United States and a peace treaty with Israel.
While he was re-elected several times, his three-decade rule was marked by allegations of corruption and police-state tactics. Popular discontent boiled over in 2011, and Mubarak stepped down following an uprising that brought the country to a standstill.
He subsequently faced hundreds of charges of “inciting, arranging and assisting to kill peaceful protesters” during the uprising. Judges dismissed the charges on a technicality Saturday, saying that they lacked jurisdiction to try him.
