Hosni Mubarak, ousted president of Egypt, released into house arrest

Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, was released from prison and transported to a military hospital Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years before being ousted by a popular uprising, will be held under house arrest in a suburb of Cairo.

The prosecutor's office informed prison authorities Mubarak could be released after judges ruled he could no longer be imprisoned during his retrial on corruption and murder charges.

On Wednesday, a court said Mubarak could be granted conditional release pending trial in three cases against him.

Mubarak still faces prosecution in three cases, including two charges of corruption and one for complicity in the deaths of some of the 850 people killed during the 2011 uprising.

Last year, Mubarak was convicted on the complicity and corruption charges and sentenced to life in prison.

But a retrial was ordered on the basis of procedural errors in the trial.

His next hearing is on Sunday, although he has not always attended court sessions in the cases against him.

Mubarak's release threatened to add a volatile new element to the political turmoil that has rocked Egypt in recent weeks.

Nearly 1,000 people were killed in a single week between the August 14 dispersal of protests in support of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and Wednesday.

The ongoing political crisis meant it came as no surprise that the army-installed government would seek to keep Mubarak under house arrest, in a bid to tamp down tensions.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.