Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters inside a cage in a courtroom at the police academy in Cairo, in this file picture taken April 13, 2013. Mubarak, who was overthrown in an uprising in 2011, will be released from jail in the next 48 hours after a prosecutor cleared him in a corruption case, his lawyer Fareed El-Deeb told Reuters on August 19, 2013.  [Photo/Agencies]

CAIRO - An Egyptian court ordered the release of former President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, a judicial and a security source said, meaning he could leave prison later in the day as there is no longer any legal grounds for his detention.

Mubarak, 85, is being retried on charges of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his downfall. However, he has already served out the maximum amount of pretrial detention permitted in that case.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of demonstrators. But a court accepted his appeal earlier this year and ordered a retrial.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alistair Lyon)