Egyptian police on Tuesday arrested former interior minister Habib al-Adly who had been on the run to avoid serving a prison sentence for embezzlement, his lawyer told AFP.

Adly, whose iron-fisted command of the country's police helped fuel a 2011 uprising that unseated longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, was arrested in Cairo, lawyer Essam al-Batawy said.

State television also reported Adly's arrest.

He was sentenced in April to seven years in prison along with 10 other former officials for embezzling about $122 million.

He had been a fugitive since then. He had contested his sentence which an appeals court will examine in January.

Adly had previously been acquitted of charges of responsibility for the deaths of protesters during the anti-Mubarak uprising.

The court dropped charges against Mubarak, who has since been freed, in the same trial.

Under Adly, the interior ministry was accused of practising systematic torture and the repression of dissent.

source: AFP