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Hosni sprung, but under house arrest

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CAIRO — Egypt’s ousted leader Hosni Mubarak was released from prison yesterday and flown to a military hospital outside Cairo where he will be held under house arrest.

The 85-year-old ex-president was freed from Tora prison and flown to the medical facility in the southern suburb of Maadi. Surrounded by armed troops in camouflage uniforms, he lay on a gurney, his hands grasping his head, as he was removed from a helicopter and placed in an ambulance for the short drive to the hospital.

After confirming with a police officer outside the prison that the helicopter carrying Mubarak was headed to the military hospital, Associated Press photographer Amr Nabil jumped in his car in what he described as a “race” with the helicopter flying overhead.

Outside the hospital, “medics and security were trying to form a human wall around him,” Nabil said.