* Four ex-ministers also granted retrials in graft cases
* Zakaria Azmi still faces travel restrictions
* Activists say trials have failed to achieve real justice
CAIRO, Feb 13 (Reuters) – A Cairo court on Wednesday ordered
the release from prison of one of deposed Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak’s closest aides after he was granted a retrial in
a corruption case.
Four other high-ranking officials from Mubarak’s government,
including a former prime minister, were also given retrials in
their graft cases, according to state media.
Many former officials have been convicted on graft and other
charges since Mubarak fell to a popular uprising in February
2011, but activists say the long, complicated legal proceedings
have failed to produce real justice.
Zakaria Azmi, Mubarak’s former chief of staff, was sentenced
last May to seven years in jail and fined 36.4 million Egyptian
pounds ($6 million) on charges of making illegal gains.
An appeals court recently ordered a retrial in that case,
and a separate criminal court ruled on Wednesday that Azmi must
be released under a law that says a suspect can not be held in
prison for more than 18 months.
Azmi has been in detention for about 22 months, state news
agency MENA reported.
The former top aide, one of the most senior members of
Mubarak’s inner circle, will still face travel and financial
restrictions but not be confined to his home.
Mubarak is in a prison hospital. Last month a Cairo court
granted him a retrial after he was jailed for life over the
killing of protesters by security forces trying to quell the
uprising against him.
Also on Wednesday, an appeals court annulled the verdicts of
former prime minister Ahmed Nazif, former interior minister
Habib al-Adli and former finance minister Youssef Boutrous-Ghali
in a separate graft case, MENA said.
Boutros-Ghali fled abroad before his trial, while the other
two have been in prison.
The three had been convicted of squandering 92 million
Egyptian pounds in public funds in a case involving
irregularities in the procurement of vehicle licence plates.
Former tourism minister Zoheir Garrana was also granted a
retrial in a case in which he is accused of illegally issuing
licences to tourism companies, MENA said.
All four former officials also face separate graft cases,
while Adli is further charged with involvement in the killing of
protesters.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Paul Taylor and
Mark Heinrich)
