Egypt court upholds Mubarak jail term

Egypt’s court of appeals on Saturday rejected an appeal by former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons over a three-year jail sentence for corruption, but the trio is unlikely to be imprisoned again having already served the sentences.

In May, an Egyptian court sentenced Mr Mubarak and his sons to three years in jail without parole in a retrial on charges of diverting public funds and using the money to upgrade family properties.

The three will have to pay a fine of 125 million Egyptian pounds ($15.96 million) and return 21 million pounds to the state treasury. A court source said that Mr Mubarak and his sons had paid 104 million pounds during the trial period.

Mr Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years before he was ousted in a popular uprising in 2011, and his sons Gamal and Alaa already spent at least three years each in prison for other cases.

Mr Mubarak’s treatment by the courts since being toppled from the presidency has been perceived by his opponents as too lenient and raised doubts about Egypt’s transition.