Egyptian prosecution frees ousted president Hosni Mubarak

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for nearly three decades, was released from detention Monday after he was cleared of ordering the killing of peaceful protesters in 2011, Egypt's official news agency said.

Ibrahim Saleh, the prosecutor, ordered Mubarak's release after he accepted a petition by Mubarak’s lawyer for his freedom on the basis of time already served, according to the Middle East News Agency.

The petition said Mubarak’s three-year sentence for embezzling state funds has been served while in detention for the protesters’ case, the Associated Press reported.

Mubarak, 88, was acquitted on March 2 by Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's top appeals court, of charges that he issued orders to kill protesters in the Arab Spring.

Since his detention, Mubarak has spent most of the five years in a military hospital.

"I expect Mubarak to leave hospital with one or two days and return to his house in Heliopolis," lawyer Farid al-Deeb told independent newspaper Al Masry Al Youm.