Ousted Egypt President Hosni Mubarak freed from detention after six years

He has sometimes appeared in court on a stretcher or in a wheelchair.

Mubarak’s critics said his release symbolized the reversal of gains made during the 18-day uprising the ended his 30-year rule.

A court in Egypt dismissed criminal charges against former president Hosni Mubarak.

His successor Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist, ruled for only a year after his 2012 election before the military overthrew him, prompted by massive protests against his Muslim Brotherhood group.

The was charged for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 popular uprising that led to his ouster. One activist said Mubarak was merely a symbol now, and Egypt’s problems were bigger than any one man. “And none of the things he asked for happened, none of the things he died for”, she told Reuters. “Politically, everything flew in this direction and paved the way for the normality of this moment”.

According to his lawyer, Hosni Mubarak was freed on Friday after six years in detention. Mr Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, were freed in October 2015, with a judge stating that they had served adequate jail time on charges of corruption and embezzlement of public funds.

However ECRF’s Gad believes that Mubarak regaining his freedom shows just how similar Egypt’s new authorities under General el-Sissi (who served as head of military intelligence under Mubarak) are to the old regime, and that there’s little chance he will return to detention.

“He has no plans for the near future”, said El Deeb. His release comes after he was cleared of charges that he ordered protesters to be killed during the revolution. He’s been released from the prison.

Others were less hopeful. Mubarak’s presidency lasted nearly thirty years, making him Egypt’s longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled the country from 1805 to 1848, a reign of 43 years. Mubarak was first detained in April 2011, but has spent the almost six years since in hospitals.

The military obliged July 3 and installed el-Sissi, its top commander, who cleared Brotherhood protesters from central Cairo with a massacre of at least 800 people by the security forces in August 2013.

Even as Egypt’s population boomed during the Mubarak era, the Arab world’s most populous country – also its one-time intellectual and cultural core – faded as a regional power.