Mubarak sits inside a cage in a courtroom
Mubarak sits inside a cage in a courtroomReuters

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted president Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison on corruption accusations, after he was cleared of murder charges in another case, AFP reports.

Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal, also sentenced to three years, were present in the caged dock, wearing suits and sunglasses. Their lawyers may try to appeal.

It was not immediately clear whether the sentencing took into account time served, according to the report.

All three had been arrested in 2011, months after Mubarak was toppled in a popular 18-day uprising after three decades in power.

State news agency MENA later reported that prison authorities contacted the prosecution to inquire about how much time the three had already spent in jail.

They had initially been sentenced to three years on the same charges but an appeal court overturned the original verdict.

Mubarak, who waved at his supporters in the benches before the judge read his verdict, was taken to the military hospital where he has spent much of his time since his detention in 2011, noted AFP.

He and his sons were fined 16 million, the amount they were accused of embezzling from funds meant for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

Mubarak, who turned 87 this month, was cleared of charges in another trial over the deaths of protesters during the January-February 2011 uprising.

Seven of his police commanders were also acquitted in that trial. The prosecution has lodged an appeal.

Last November, a court dropped murder charges against Mubarak over the deaths of protesters during the uprising which ended his rule.

In the months following his ouster, Egypt's interim military rulers rounded up top Mubarak-era leaders and police commanders and put them on trial, under pressure from protesters.

Most have since been acquitted, as widespread anger shifted to Mubarak's now overthrown successor, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi.

Mubarak’s former military intelligence chief, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is now president after he overthrew Morsi in the summer of 2013.

Critics say Sisi is reviving the practices of the Mubarak era, which was marred by police abuses and arrests of dissidents.

Sisi has distanced himself from Mubarak and has insisted that Egypt is moving forward and not backwards. Mubarak, however, has expressed support for Sisi and called on the Egyptian people to stand behind the new president.