Court to rule on Mubarak release

An Egyptian court is due to review a petition for the release of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, BBC reported. 

Mubarak is facing a retrial for complicity in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended in his removal from power.

However, his lawyer hopes he will be released once cleared of a corruption charge.

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers are due to decide whether to cut some of its billions of euros in aid to Egypt.

The EU has strongly condemned the military-backed interim government's crackdown on Islamists following the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi last month.

In a separate development, a Egyptian Coptic Church website has been hacked, apparently by Morsi supporters.

The www.Copticpope.com site was suspended after a picture of a group of pro-Morsi demonstrators appeared on its front page, with a text that read: "Nobody will rule Egypt but Islamists, God willing. Christians, [army chief Gen Abdul Fattah] al-Sisi supporters and thugs to hell."

Correspondents say the Church has been at a heart of recent events, with Coptic Pope Tawadros II supporting the overthrow of President Morsi.