Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak, detained pending a probe into corruption and state violence, may be jailed or hanged if found guilty of ordering the killing of demonstrators, state media said Friday, April 15.

The state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram quoted the head of Cairo’s appeals court, Zakaria Shalash, as saying that Mubarak may face execution after a trial he expected to last at least a year.

Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal were remanded into 15 days custody this week after prosecutors launched a probe into violence against protesters during an 18-day popular uprising that forced Mubarak to resign on February 11.

A corruption panel will begin questioning them next week on suspicion of graft, the newspaper reported.

Shalash said the testimony by Mubarak’s former interior minister Habib al-Adly, who himself is on trial on charges of ordering the shootings of anti-regime protesters, made Mubarak an accomplice if proven.

Adly said he was ordered to use violence against protesters by the former leader, AFP reported.