Sisi refuses Mubarak's release from military hospital despite acquittal

Last week, the general prosecutor ordered Mubarak's release following his acquittal earlier this month of killing protesters during the 25 January revolution.

The 88-year-old had spent the majority of his sentence in a military hospital in the upscale district of Maadi in Cairo.

Security sources had told The New Arab earlier that Mubarak would not be able to leave the hospital without Sisi's personal approval, which will determine when and where he would be released.

On Thursday, Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal filed a lawsuit against the justice minister and the general prosecution to unfreeze 61 million Egyptian Pounds ($3.36 million) of assets, alleging that the continued freeze on their assets was in "defiance of the law".

A court has set 23 March to discuss the lawsuit, state-run al-Ahram news website reported on Thursday.

Since his ouster in 2011, Mubarak stood trial in a number of criminal cases on various charges, but he only received one final conviction on charges of corruption.

He is still banned from travel pending investigations by the Illicit Gains Authority into the increase in his personal wealth since the 2011 revolution, according to his lawyer Farid al-Deeb.

Hundreds of protesters were killed in clashes with police and Mubarak supporters during the 18-day uprising in 2011, part of the Arab Spring protests that swept the region.

Led by then defence minister and current president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a military coup overthrew Mubarak's freely elected successor, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013.

Sisi, who is seen as sympathetic to Mubarak, has since presided over an often-violent crackdown on dissidents, with hundreds killed and thousands thrown in prison.