Egypt frees Mubarak-era interior minister ahead of retrial

Habib al-Adly will be released from jail pending the retrial on accusations of embezzlement, his lawyer Fareed al-Deeb told AFP.

Adly was sentenced in April 2017 to seven years in prison along with 10 other former officials for embezzling about $122 million.

However he has only spent a little over a month in jail, having gone into hiding following his sentencing, before being re-arrested eight months later on December 5, 2017.

On Thursday, the court accepted appeals by the 10 officials and granted them a retrial also, the official said.

Adly's iron-fisted command of the country's police helped fuel the 2011 uprising that unseated long-time ruler Mubarak.

Under Adly, the interior ministry was accused of practising systematic torture and the repression of dissent.

Amnesty International connected Adly's ministry with the deaths of 846 protesters in 2011, accusing officials of using violent repression to counter mass anti-government protests.

Adly had previously been acquitted on charges of responsibility for the deaths of protesters during the anti-Mubarak uprising.

During that trial, Hussein Abou Eissa, the prosecuting lawyer, nicknamed Adly "Egypt's executioner".

In that trial, the court also dropped charges against Mubarak, who has since been freed.