Egypt Court Orders Retrial in Mubarak Case

Mubarak, 86, was sentenced to three years in prison in May for diverting public funds earmarked to renovate presidential palaces and using the money to upgrade family properties.

His two sons were given four-year jail terms in the same case.

The man who ruled Egypt for 30 years has been serving his sentence in a military hospital in Cairo.

Now that a retrial has been ordered, judicial sources say Mubarak could walk free as no convictions remain against him.

In November, another court dropped charges against Mubarak for conspiring to kill protesters in the 2011 revolt that toppled him from power, and cleared him in two other graft cases.

He faces retrial for a third and final time over charges of involvement in the death of demonstrators.

The decision to drop the charges in November sparked protests at universities across Egypt and prompted mockery online, Al Jazeera reported.

At least two people were killed and nine wounded when security forces fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse about 1,000 protesters trying to enter Tahrir Square - the symbolic heart of the uprising that ousted Mubarak.

The Court of Cassation, which ordered the retrial on Tuesday, did not say if Mubarak would be freed on bail pending his retrial in the outstanding cases.

Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak's rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.

His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election. But the victor, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted in 2013 by then-army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, following protests against his rule.

Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election last May, launched a fierce crackdown on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Authorities have jailed thousands of Brotherhood supporters and sentenced hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.