Hosni Mubarak will be freed ‘within 48 hours,’ says lawyer

Hosni Mubarak, the longtime ruler that Egyptians deposed in 2011, could soon be a free man.

The former president's lawyer said Monday that he expected Mubarak to be released from jail within 48 hours, after a prosecutor dismissed one of the last remaining corruption cases against him.

The only charge still outstanding is another allegation of corruption that attorney Fareed El-Deeb sees being resolved shortly.

"All we have left is a simple administrative procedure that should take no more than 48 hours," Deeb told Reuters. "He should be freed by the end of the week."

Mubarak is still embroiled in a retrial on charges of complicity in the death of protesters who demanded his resignation, however. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2012, he successfully appealed for that verdict to be scrapped and a new trial begun. 

The retrial began in May and was repeatedly adjourned, with Mubarak ordered to remain in custody in the meantime. It's not yet clear how his lawyer's announcement relates to that case.

Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi, is also in detention after the military deposed him on July 3. Hundreds of Morsi's supporters have died since then, including more than 800 who were killed during a crackdown on their protest camps in Cairo on August 14.