Mubarak 'to be freed this week'

An Egyptian court will tomorrow review a petition for the release of deposed president Hosni Mubarak filed by his lawyer, judicial sources told Reuters.

The court will convene at the Cairo prison where Mubarak is being held.

If the court upholds the petition, Mubarak will be released as there remains no further legal grounds for his detention, though he is being retried on charges of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising, the sources added.

Egypt's former leader Hosni Mubarak is likely to walk free within a week having faced the prospect of execution just weeks ago.

Mr Mubarak's lawyer confirmed to ITV News that all charges had been dropped, although he refused to appear on camera.

The news emerged as it was announced that the country's first democratically-elected but now deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, could face new charges.

ITV News International Correspondent John Irvine reports from Cairo:

Hosni Mubarak will be released from jail in the next 48 hours after a corruption case against him was dropped, his lawyer Fareed el-Deeb told Reuters.

The only legal grounds for Mubarak's continued detention rest on another corruption case that will be cleared up later this week, Deeb said.

"All we have left is a simple administrative procedure that should take no more than 48 hours," Deeb said.

The former Egyptian president, who was overthrown in an uprising in 2011, still faces a retrial on charges of complicity in the murder of protesters.

Hosni Mubarak's lawyer said he expects the former Egyptian president will be freed this week after he was cleared in a corruption case, Reuters reported.