Egypt’s former military ruler Hosni Mubarek could leave prison and be placed under house arrest sometime Thursday, according to officials.

Toppled in the 2011 “Arab Spring”, Mubarek was sentenced to life in prison last year, but he launched a successful appeal and a retrial was ordered.  In a quirk of Egyptian law, Mubarek has been jailed as pre-trial detention rules allow, but the country is still under a state of emergency because of the clashes with members of the Muslim Brotherhood - so he’ll be detained for the rest of this trial under house arrest. 

"The timing of Mubarak's release is terrible politically," said Said Sadek, a professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo.

"Some look at Mubarak as a hero for suppressing the Muslim Brotherhood – they say the country was stable under his autocratic rule and that now we are in the chaotic, democratic transitional stage." 

Mubarek also still faces charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.