Egypt court upholds Mubarak, sons jail sentence in graft case

Cairo: An Egyptian court today upheld a three-year jail sentence for former president Hosni Mubarak and his sons for embezzling millions of dollars' worth of state funds that were intended for the maintenance of official residences.

Mubarak, 87, and his sons -- Gamal and Alaa – were charged of acquiring almost 126 million Egyptian pounds (USD 16 million) from the presidential palace budget and using the money for the construction and development of family-owned assets.

They are also charged with forging official documents and damaging public property.

In May 2014, Mubarak and his sons were sentenced to three years each in a maximum security prison on embezzlement charges.

Collectively, they were fined 125 million Egyptian Pounds and are required to repay 21 million Egyptian Pounds.

Mubarak and seven former security commanders, including his former interior minister Habib al-Adly, were cleared in 2014 of charges of killing anti-government protesters during the 2011 revolution.

The judge in the case said that Mubarak should never be tried for these charges.

The three-year jail sentences have already been served during the trio's time in pre-trial detention. Gamal and Alaa Mubarak walked free in May 2015 and Mubarak returned to Maadi Military Hospital where he currently resides.

According to Egyptian law, pre-trial detention is counted as time served towards any possible sentence.

Mubarak has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011 after his ouster in popular uprising.