“I am sure most Egyptians would not approve her release,” said Abdul Aziz Awad, a legal expert.

Suzanne Mubarak, 70, had been held on corruption charges in a hospital of the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, along with her husband, who is also being investigated for allegedly ordering the shooting of anti-regime protesters.

Egyptian media said her husband was also preparing to hand over his assets and apologize to the Egyptian people in return for an amnesty from military rulers.

Jamal Hamam, a political analyst, said he believed Suzanne had been released on humanitarian grounds.

“Egyptians will not forget her role in corrupting the country’s politics,” he said, adding that he was surprised by the release.

An official statement said the Egyptian justice ministry’s Illicit Gains Authority “has decided to release her after she handed over to the state money held in two bank accounts in Egypt, amounting to 24 million pounds (around $4 million).”

Assem Al-Gohari, who heads the illicit gains department, said Suzanne Mubarak had agreed to disclose the details of all her accounts, in Egypt and abroad.

Egyptian daily Al-Shorouk reported that the former president was said to be drafting a letter which will be broadcast on Egyptian and Arabic channels “apologizing on behalf of himself and his family for any offense caused to the people”.

In the letter, Mubarak will argue that he “was once a fighting soldier in the armed forces, defending the nation with no ambition to become president, but tried to carry the responsibility and the burden of the position.”

Al-Shorouk said the amnesty request would extend to the Mubarak sons, Alaa and Gamal, who are being held in Cairo’s Tora prison on fraud charges, but sources told the paper it was unlikely it would be granted to the brothers.

Also being held in Tora prison are dozens of officials and businessmen associated with the former regime, in a facility which housed political dissidents during the Mubarak era.

The Mubaraks’ fall from grace came on February 11, after 18 straight days of nationwide protests against the president’s three-decade rule.

Suzanne was seen as the driving force behind plans to have her son Gamal take over the presidency from his father, a highly unpopular prospect in Egypt that sparked repeated angry protests.

Mubarak, his wife, his two sons and their wives were banned from travel and their assets ordered frozen shortly after the strongman was overthrown.