An Egyptian court on Thursday acquitted an interior minister of ousted president Hosni Mubarak of corruption charges, AFP reported.
The former minister, Habib al-Adly, was cleared of illegally accumulating around 181 million Egyptian pounds ($25 million) and will be released, his lawyer Mohammed el-Gendy said.
The court also lifted an asset freeze on the former minister and members of his family, he added.
“Keeping him in jail for another hour would be illegal,” Gendy said of the once-feared interior minister who ran Mubarak’s security service with an iron grip.
Adly was convicted of taking advantage of his position and forcing police conscripts to work on his private property but has already served the full three-year sentence, noted AFP.
Thursday’s verdict is the latest in a series of acquittals for Mubarak-era officials, including Mubarak himself. An appeals court last month overturned a suspended five-year sentence slapped on Adly and ex-premier Ahmed Nazif over other corruption charges.
Adly was also cleared of murder charges in a separate retrial with Mubarak in November, for which he had been sentenced to life in prison by a lower court.
Also last month, an Egyptian court acquitted an oil minister who served under Mubarak in a retrial after a 2012 conviction for selling Israel natural gas at below market price.
In January, Mubarak’s conviction on corruption charges was overturned by a court and a retrial was ordered.
Trials of Mubarak and his former officials have been overshadowed by those against Islamist former president Mohammed Morsi and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was branded a “terrorist group” in 2013.
Since Morsi’s ouster, the government has launched a brutal crackdown against his supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed after often speedy mass trials.
Morsi and leaders of his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood are facing several trials, punishable by death if found guilty.