Egypt extends Mubarak's detention
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| A mass uprising that began on January 25 led to the ouster of Mubarak [EPA] |
Abdel Maguid Mahmud, the prosecutor general, "has ordered the preventative detention of former president Hosni Mubarak for 15 days that will begin when his current detention ends on May 12", a statement from Mahmud's office released on Tuesday said.
The renewal comes as Egyptian authorities jailed a second former cabinet minister on the same day for five years for squandering public funds.
A team of investigators are questioning Mubarak at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he is currently under arrest.
He is being held in connection with ordering the shooting of protesters during the anti-regime rallies that kicked off on January 25, and also on corruption-related charges.
Mubarak was hospitalised on April 12 after suffering a heart attack and was put under preventative detention the following day, two months after he was overthrown by a popular uprising.
Ex-tourism minister jailed
About a dozen other former top Mubarak-era officials, including a former prime minister, the speakers of parliament's two chambers have been detained on suspicion of corruption, along with Mubarak and his sons who are also being quizzed for abuse of office.
Zoheir Garranah, who headed the tourism portfolio, was found guilty of handing out tourism licences illegally, judicial sources said on Tuesday.
Garranah's sentencing comes days after former interior minister Habib al-Adly was jailed for 12 years for money laundering and corruption. Al-Adly faces a second trial on charges of ordering police to shoot protesters, as well as a further corruption charge.
Egypt's military council, which has run the country since Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February, has said it wants to crack down on abuses of power and corruption.
