Hosni Mubarak’s interior minister ‘to be released'

In a few hours, Habib al-Adly, the last Interior Minister under ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will be released from prison. He was imprisoned after the 25 January revolution in 2011. Adly's release follows his acquittal of profiteering and corruption yesterday.

"Adly no longer faces trial; therefore, he is no longer wanted for justice. His release will be finalised by Saturday at the latest, thus making him the most hated Mubarak-era figure, as judges (of the military coup regime) have cleared him from different criminal, political and financial charges, drawing sarcastic remarks," a judicial source in Egypt's public prosecution office said.

One Egyptian posted "he did not even get a traffic ticket". The Egyptian judiciary has failed to find the person responsible for killing and injuring thousands of people during the 25 January revolution," a judicial source speaking on conditions of anonymity told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Adly was facing dozens of cases and nearly 2,500 claims against him.

Adly alone was facing dozens of cases and nearly 2,500 claims. His charges included involvement in the Qiddisin Church bombings in Alexandria before the revolution and the murder of Sayed Bilal and Khaled Said, as well as thousands of cases of torture and political arrests and crimes. In addition, documents revealed after the 25 January revolution implicated him in the killing of protesters, as well as financial and political corruption. Nonetheless, Adly was acquitted under Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's rule.

Egypt's judiciary drew to a close the farce of Adly's trial after the South Giza Criminal Court handed down its verdict, acquitting him of a 212 million pound graft case. The verdict even included cancelling the freeze on the money and properties of Adly and his family members.

Along with former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and former Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, Adly was acquitted of the "license plates" case, in which they were accused of squandering 92 million Egyptian pounds in public funds by granting the contract to Utsch through direct order at above market prices, in violation of the tenders and auctions law.

Egyptian courts have also acquitted Adly of several other charges, including profiteering and money laundering, after accepting his appeal for a retrial.

The State Security prosecution's decision to refer Adly to trial listed charges of graft in his capacity as Interior Minister. According to the referral decision, in the period from October 2010 to February 2011, Adly ordered his subordinates, as well as police housing and Police Academy officials, to find a buyer for his allocated land for the highest price before the deadline to start construction.

As for the biggest and most important case for the Egyptian people, the "trial of the century", in which Adly and Mubarak were accused of killing protesters, financial corruption, graft and exporting natural gas to Israel, Adly and the other defendants were also acquitted.

The only case in which Adly was not acquitted was the "forced labour" case, where he and others forced 360 police recruits to work on their houses, using 77 police cars to save 2.237 million pounds. Adly served the full three year sentence of this case.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.