Egypt's Mubarak could be released

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters inside a cage in a courtroom at the police academy in Cairo, in this file picture taken April 13, 2013. Mubarak, who was overthrown in an uprising in 2011, will be released from jail in the next 48 hours after a prosecutor cleared him in a corruption case, his lawyer Fareed El-Deeb told Reuters on August 19, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

CAIRO -- An Egyptian court ordered on Monday to release former president Hosni Mubarak over charges of looting funds allocated for maintaining the presidential palaces, state- run Ahram website said.

In its first session of hearing, the Cairo Criminal Court also decided to jail Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal pending investigations in the same case.

The court ordered the document of the case to be returned to the prosecution for indicting another four suspects.

Mubarak and his two sons didn't appear in the court for security reasons.

Mubarak still faces a retrial on charges of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 unrest which toppled him.

On Saturday, an Egyptian court postponed the retrial of the former president over charges of protester death to August 25 amid ongoing riots triggered between the Islamists and security forces after ousting his successor Mohamed Morsi.