Egypt court frees Hosni Mubarak

Egyptian ousted president Hosni Mubarak lies on a stretcher as he is wheeled into a courtroom in Cairo. Mubarak’s trial resumed off camera with witnesses giving testimony to try to determine who gave the orders for killing of hundreds of protesters in the revolt that ousted Egypt’s veteran president. AFP PHOTO

CAIRO  (AFP) – An Egyptian court Wednesday ordered ex-president Hosni Mubarak freed while he stands trial for corruption and killing protesters, as authorities pressed their roundup of supporters of his ousted Islamist successor. There was no indication of whether a release was imminent. In the past, prosecutors have filed new charges to keep Mubarak in jail after courts have ordered his conditional release. The decision added a volatile new element to the political turmoil that has gripped Egypt since Mohamed Morsi was ousted in a July 3 coup, with 1,000 people killed in violence in the past week.

That unrest has prompted international criticism, and EU foreign ministers agreed in an emergency meeting Wednesday to suspend the sale of arms and security equipment to Egypt.

Last year, Mubarak was convicted of complicity in the deaths of some of the 850 people killed in the

2011 uprising that overthrew him, as well as on charges of corruption.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but an appeals court ordered a retrial on technicalities

Should he be freed, he still faces those charges and his next hearing is scheduled for Sunday.

Meanwhile, authorities continued to round up members of the Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Overnight, they detained Islamist firebrand Safwat Hegazy and Mourad Ali, a spokesman for the group’s Freedom and Justice Party.

Hegazy was arrested near the border with Libya and Ali at Cairo airport as he tried to leave for Rome, they said.

Since the army ousted Morsi after massive demonstrations against him, authorities have issued hundreds of detention orders and arrest warrants for Brotherhood members.

Dozens of the group’s leaders have been rounded up, including its supreme guide Mohamed Badie, who was detained on Tuesday.

It was the first time a Brotherhood supreme guide has been arrested since 1981.

The Brotherhood swiftly named deputy Mahmoud Ezzat, described by experts as a “hawk” and conservative, to serve as interim guide.

Badie and two other senior Brotherhood leaders are expected to appear Sunday before a court on allegations they incited the murder of protesters in front of their headquarters on June 30.

Egypt has experienced a week of unprecedented political bloodletting, which began on August 14 when security forces stormed two Cairo pro-Morsi protest camps.

The crackdown and resulting violence across the country killed nearly 600 people in a single day, the bloodiest in Egypt’s recent history.

Islamists have torched and attacked dozens of Christian churches, schools, businesses and homes — mostly in the rural south — accusing Egypt’s sizable Coptic minority of backing Morsi’s ouster.

The deadly dispersals of the protest camps were followed by days of violence that have seen the country’s toll rise to nearly 1,000 dead, including 37 Islamist prisoners who died in custody on Sunday night.

That excludes the toll in the Sinai peninsula, where militants have launched near daily attacks against police and army facilities.

On Monday, 25 policemen were killed in a single incident, when gunmen dragged them from two buses and shot them dead execution style near the border with the Gaza Strip.

The incident prompted national condemnation and mourning and brought the week’s toll in Sinai alone to 45, according to an AFP count.

The international community has responded with shock to the violence.

The European Union decided Wednesday to restrict exports of security equipment and arms to Egypt in response to the mounting violence but opted to maintain economic assistance.

After a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign minister issued a statement that dubbed recent operations by Egyptian security forces as “disproportionate” while also condemning “acts of terrorism” in the Sinai and attacks on churches blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood.

“It is a very clear and determined signal towards Egypt for an end of the violence and a return to a political process that includes all the different political forces,” said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

But expressing concern over the economic situation, the ministers said “assistance in the socio-economic sector and to civil society will continue.”

But they warned that “the EU will monitor the situation in Egypt closely and readjust its cooperation accordingly.”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said “we must keep faith with the majority of the people of Egypt who want a stable, democratic and prosperous country for themselves and that means we mustn’t do anything that hurts them or that cuts off support to them.”

For its part, the White House has denied reports it was halting its $1.3 billion annual aid package to Egypt.

On Tuesday, in an interview with ABC News, Egyptian interim prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi said it would be a “bad sign” for the US to cut off aid.

But, while he said such a move would “badly affect the military for some time,” he insisted that “Egypt would survive” and could turn to other donors.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which backs the army-installed interim government, has said it would step in with other Arab nations to fill any funding gap if Washington halts aid.