Court orders former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak freed

An Egyptian court has ordered the release of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak, state-run media outlet Al-Ahram reported Wednesday.

The former president will remain in custody for 48 hours, pending the prosecution’s appeal, the report said.

State-run TV channel Al-Masriya cited a lawyer for Mubarak as saying he may be released on Thursday.

The court’s reported ruling comes at a time of turmoil in Egypt, where an interim military government has been in charge since Mubarak’s successor, Mohamed Morsy, was ousted as president last month.

Over the past week, about 900 people — security personnel as well as citizens — have been killed. Deaths occurred when the military used force to clear two pro-Morsy sit-in sites in Cairo on Wednesday last week and violence raged after pro-Morsy supporters staged demonstrations Friday.

Mubarak ruled Egypt, the most populous Arab country, for three decades until demonstrators opposing his rule forced his ouster in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring revolutions across Africa and the Middle East.

He was convicted in 2012 in the deaths of numerous protesters, but was later granted a retrial.

After a lengthy trial, he and his former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison last year on charges that they were complicit in the protesters’ killings. After appealing their convictions, they were granted a new trial early this year.

Mubarak, 85, has been held since his guilty verdict last year. After months spent in a military hospital, a public prosecutor sent him back to prison in April.