Former Egyptian Leader Mubarak Released After Six Years of Detention

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been released after six years in detention.

Mubarak's lawyer said the former leader had left a military hospital in southern Cairo on March 24 and was back at his home in the northern Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.

Mubarak's release followed his being cleared earlier this month of the final murder accusation he faced as part of a series of charges ranging from corruption to killings.

Overthrown in 2011 after 30 years of rule, the 88-year-old Mubarak was the first Arab Spring leader to stand trial in his own country.

He was arrested in April 2011, two months after leaving office, and had been held in either prisons or military hospitals ever since.

Mubarak was convicted in 2012 for the deaths of protesters at the hands of security forces and sentenced to life in prison before an appeals court overturned the verdict.

A retrial was ordered, leading to Mubarak's subsequent exoneration.

Mubarak's overthrow was a symbol of the hope for democracy in the region that emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings.

However, after Mubarak's successor, Muhammad Morsi, won free elections that followed, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled Morsi in 2013 following renewed mass street protests.

Based on reporting by BBC, Reuters and AP