Statement posted on prosecutor general's office Facebook page says ongoing investigation is in place into orders to open fire on demonstrators during recent upheavals.
By The Associated Press and Haaretz ServiceEgypt's prosecutor general announced Wednesday a 15-day detention for former President Hosni Mubarak to investigate accusations of corruption and abuse of authority, hours after announcing the detention of his sons Alaa and Gamal.
News of the reported detention order came a day hours after Mubarak, 82, was hospitalized with heart problems as investigations began over his own role in corruption and suppressing the protests that eventually led to his ouster.
 | Ousted Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak attends a meeting with South Africa's President Jacob Zuma at the presidential palace in Cairo October 19, 2010. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
The former Egyptian president was deposed Feb. 11 after 18 days of popular protests and has been under house arrest in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh for the last two months.
According to a statement posted on the Facebook page of the prosecutor general's office early Wednesday, Mubarak, as well his sons have been detained for 15 days.
"The prosecutor general orders the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa for 15 days pending investigation after the prosecutor general presented them with the current state of its ongoing investigations," it read.
The statement says the ongoing investigation was into the orders to open fire on demonstrators as well as any abuse of the president's authority for personal gain.
Mubarak's reported detention came just hours after Egyptian prosecutors ordered the detention of his two powerful sons over their role in violence against protesters and corruption allegations are investigated.
Alaa and Gamal Mubarak are, like their father, to be detained for 15 days, Egyptian state television said on Wednesday. State prosecutors are probing accusations of embezzlement.
Many of Mubarak's top associates are now being questioned for their activities in the previous regime, but the detention of his sons is by far the most startling development since his Feb. 11 removal from office.
Gamal Mubarak, his younger son, was a top official in the ruling party and was widely seen as being groomed to succeed his father before popular protests brought down the regime.
While the ex-president was in the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has been living since being removed from power, his sons were taken for questioning to the nearby courthouse by prosecutors from Cairo.
An angry crowd of 2,000 people gathered outside and demanded the two be arrested.
In the early hours of the morning, the head of provincial security in the South Sinai told the crowd that Gamal and his businessman brother Alaa would be detained.
"Brothers, whatever you wanted, you have got ... 15 days," said Maj. Gen. Mohammed el-Khatib, as the crowd erupted in cheers. Egyptian state television later confirmed the order.
As a police van took away the two brothers, the crowd pelted it with water bottles, stones and their flip-flops, a sign of disrespect in the Arab world.
In the two months since Mubarak stepped down, the council of generals ruling the country have initiated a series of investigations of top regime officials.
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