Mubarak-era security chief walks free from Egypt jail

 Former interior minister Habib al-Adly of ousted president Hosni Mubarak walked free from an Egyptian jail Wednesday after his acquittal last week of corruption charges, officials and his lawyer said.

Cairo: Former interior minister Habib al-Adly of ousted president Hosni Mubarak walked free from an Egyptian jail Wednesday after his acquittal last week of corruption charges, officials and his lawyer said.

"He has completed the procedures and he has come out," interior ministry spokesman General Hani Abdel Latif told AFP.

Adly`s lawyer, Mohamed el-Gendy, said the once-feared interior minister who ran Mubarak`s security service with an iron grip was at home.

A Cairo court on March 19 acquitted Adly of corruption charges, in the last in a string of cases he faced.

He had been accused of illegally accumulating around 181 million Egyptian pounds ($25 million/23 million euros).

The court also lifted an asset freeze on the former minister and members of his family, his lawyer said.

The verdict was the latest in a series of acquittals for Mubarak-era officials, including the veteran leader 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.

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