Cairo: The release of former president Hosni Mubarak’s two sons from prison on the fourth anniversary of the uprising against him has drawn ire of activists amid turmoil in the country.

“Their release is a provocation to the Egyptian people, who revolted against the Mubarak regime,” said Mohammad Fouad, a spokesman for the protest group April 6 Youth, which spearheaded the 2011 uprising against Mubarak.

Alaa and Jamal Mubarak walked free on Monday pending their retrial on corruption charges, nearly four years after they were arrested.

“Their release did not come as a surprise in view of the ongoing ‘festival of innocence for all’,” Fouad said sarcastically, referring to a series of acquittals by courts to almost all figures from the Mubarak regime.

“The present regime is following in the footsteps of the Mubarak regime.”

President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, a former army general like Mubarak, has repeatedly denied interference in court rulings, saying the country’s judiciary operates independently.

Al Sissi’s detractors accuse him of being an extension of Mubarak’s regime, an accusation he has vehemently denied.

Last May, a criminal court sentenced Mubarak to three years in prison and his two sons to four years each after convicting them of spending more than 125 million pounds (around Dh62.5 million) of public money on their private mansions when Mubarak was in office.

Earlier this month, the country’s top appeals court overturned the rulings and ordered their retrial.

In November, another court acquitted the three of corruption in a separate case and dropped murder charges against Mubarak in the killing of hundreds of protesters in the 2011 uprising.

Mubarak’s supporters have hailed his sons’ release as a step towards reversing what they describe as “injustices” done to their father, who ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years.

“Mubarak and his family have been subjected to a systematic campaign of distortion in the past four years,” said Mahmoud Makram, a follower of the self-styled group Mubarak Children. “The latest court rulings prove that the Egyptian judiciary rules according to its conscience without being influenced by others’ opinions.”

Mubarak, now 86, has been staying in a military hospital for most of the time since he was forced to step down following the uprising against him.

Sources close to his family have said he is likely to continue to stay in the hospital in the Cairo quarter of Maadi due to health and security reasons.

Some protest groups have said they will file lawsuits against Mubarak and acquitted figures from his regime, requesting their prosecution anew for alleged political and financial corruption.

“The release of Mubarak’s sons is the outcome of a court ruling based on a corrupt system of laws that must be changed,” said Eman Al Mahdi of the pro-Al Sissi Tamarod (Rebellion) movement. “Mubarak and his regime’s figures must be tried at revolutionary courts so that retribution will be exacted for the martyrs of the uprising and the Egyptian people, who suffered from poverty, diseases and ignorance under Mubarak’s rule,” she added.

“The people have already condemned the Mubarak regime including his two sons. So allowing them to walk free constitutes a slap in the face of the revolution and a partial triumph for the counter-revolutionary powers.”

Alaa, a businessman, and Jamal, who was widely seen as a successor to his father in power, are also being tried in another case on insider trading charges.

State-run and private media loyal to Al Sissi Tuesday gave a low-key treatment to the news of the younger Mubaraks’ release, focusing instead on the deadly clashes between police and mainly Islamist protesters on Sunday, the anniversary of the start of the uprising against Mubarak.

“Alaa and Jamal have been released according to a court decision that should be respected,” said Salah Al Hadi, a political expert. “Yet, their release understandably angers the youth, who see tens of young activists that led the revolution against Mubarak being in prison on charges of holding illegal protests,” he added.

“This irony undoubtedly comes to the benefit of the Muslim Brotherhood, who is doing its best to undermine the present ruling system or at least tarnish its image.”

In 2013, Al Sissi, the then army chief, led the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi of the Brotherhood following enormous street protests against his one-year rule. Egypt has since seen an upsurge in attacks and violent street protests blamed on Mursi’s loyalists.