Egypt acquits top Mubarak-era officials on graft charges

An Egyptian court on Tuesday found two top former officials, who served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, not guilty in corruption charges, official news agency MENA reported.

Former prime minister Ahmed Nazif and former interior minister Habib al-Adly were both charged with profiteering and squandering public funds for their own interests.

Nazif was accused of granting a German company a contract worth 92 million Egyptian pounds (nearly 12 million U.S. dollars) to make car plates for the Interior Ministry, without using public auction in line with Egyptian laws.

Nazif had been sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term, while Adly received a five-year jail term in 2011. They appealed against the verdict and the Court of Cassation ordered their retrial.

The acquittal came one day after a liberal activist, Alaa Abdel Fattah, who spearheaded, among others, the massive protests that toppled Mubarak in 2011, was sentenced five years in jail over unlicensed protests.

Most of Mubarak's top officials have been cleared of charges, mostly corruption and murder, since they were arrested following Mubarak's removal in 2011.

In late November 2014, Cairo Criminal Court acquitted Mubarak himself, his two sons Gamal, Alaa and interior minister Adly, six senior security officials of financial corruption and involvement in the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprising.

Since the ouster of Mubarak's successor, Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi, thousands of his supporters were detained over violence and murder charges.

Hundreds of Morsi's supporters got life sentences in swift trials.

Releasing Mubarak and his aides provoke feelings of injustice and anger inside and the uproar of the international community, as activists and Islamists have been handed down sentences or still facing trials. Endit