A Cairo criminal court decided to release former Information Minister Anas al-Feky on Wednesday, accepting a legal challenge to his detention pending investigations in charges of squandering public funds, only to have the public prosecutor appeal the court verdict.

The court had sentenced Feky to seven years in prison for squandering state television funds but he demanded a retrial before a different court.

Similarly, Egypt's Public Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim had ordered to halt release-procedures of former upper house speaker Safwat al-Sherif on Tuesday after a criminal court decided to free him for exceeding the legal detention period of 18 months.