Egyptian court to consider Mubarak release

A court in the Egyptian capital Cairo is set to review a petition for the release of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011.

The court will convene on Wednesday at the Cairo prison where Mubarak is being held, judicial sources said, and review a petition from his lawyer demanding the former leader be freed.

If the court upholds the petition, there would remain no legal grounds for Mubarak's detention, though he is being retried on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters in 2011.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the revolt against him, but a retrial was ordered earlier this year.

The retrial resumed in May this year, but this would not require him to stay in jail.

Fareed el-Deeb, Mubarak's lawyer, says that the court will review his petition to release his client, now that the last remaining corruption charge against Mubarak has been dropped.

If Mubarak is freed this week, it would come only six weeks after the armed forces that he once commanded deposed his freely elected successor, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi remains in custody since his ouster on July 3, but his supporters have held protests calling for his reinstatement.

Around 900 people, including 100 police and soldiers, were killed after security forces broke up pro-Morsi
protest camps in the capital on August 14.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a Cairo court set a September trial date for Mohamed ElBaradei, the recently-resigned interim vice-president for foreign affairs, on charges of "breaching national trust".

The charges against ElBaradei were filed by a law professor at Cairo's Helwan University, according to a report in the state-run Al-Ahram.

He stands accused of "betraying" the public by resigning on August 14, a misdemeanour charge that could carry an $1,430 fine if he is convicted.