Egypt's court overturns ex-interior minister's jail over illicit gains

CAIRO, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's top Court of Cassation overturned on Thursday a seven-year jail term against former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly over charges of corruption and illicit gains, ordering his retrial.

Adly, one of the top officials who served under ousted President Hosni Mubarak for 14 years, was sentenced in absentia by a lower court last April to seven years in prison for profiteering and looting public funds.

He and 12 other defendants were convicted in April of looting about 2 billion Egyptian pounds (113 million U.S. dollars) from the Interior Ministry between 2000 and 2011.

Adly did not attend the final court session, and later disappeared until the police arrested him last December. Meanwhile, his lawyer appealed the verdict and the top court accepted it and ordered the retrial of all the defendants.

The ex-interior minister already served a three-year prison term he was handed in 2013 for taking advantage of his position and using police conscripts to work for his property.

In November 2014, a court dropped charges against Mubarak, Adly and six of his aides over the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 revolution that led to Mubarak's ouster.

Adly was also acquitted in another corruption case in March 2015.

Several Mubarak-era figures have been recently released pending retrials over similar charges. Enditem