A Cairo court acquitted one of deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's closest aides in a retrial in a corruption case, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday.

While courts have absolved several Mubarak-era officials, they have been handing down lengthy sentences to liberal and Islamist activists in cases ranging from protesting to committing acts of violence.

Zakaria Azmi, Mubarak's former chief of staff, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2012 and fined 36.4 million Egyptian pounds ($6 million) on charges of making illegal gains.

But in 2013, the appeals court ordered a retrial in that case in , and a separate criminal court ordered his release.