In this Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 file photo, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, seated, and his two sons Gamal Mubarak, left, and Alaa Mubarak, right.

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had his three-year prison sentence on corruption charges overturned by a court on Tuesday.

The court also ordered a retrial in the case, the sole case still pending against him.

A lower court had handed down the jail sentence against Mubarak in May last year after convicting him of embezzling more than 100,000 Egyptian pounds (about $14 million) earmarked for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

It had also handed down four-year jail sentences against the toppled leader’s sons, Alaa and Gamal.

The move follows a court decision in November to drop murder charges against the 86-year-old former leader over the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his three decades of autocratic rule.

The decision to drop the charges sparked protests at universities across Egypt and prompted mockery online. At least two people were killed and nine wounded when security forces fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse about 1,000 protesters trying to enter Tahrir Square — the symbolic heart of the uprising that ousted Mubarak.

The Court of Cassation did not specify whether Mubarak was a free man following its judgment.

But his lawyer Farid al-Deeb told Agence France-Presse that his client ought to go free as he “has already served” three years in prison.

He has been serving his sentence in a military hospital in Cairo. His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election. But the Islamist victor, Mohammad Mursi, was ousted in 2013 by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, following protests against his rule.

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