A CAIRO court has convicted ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak of embezzlement and sentenced him to three years in prison.

The corruption case against the 86-year-old, who is kept in custody at a military hospital, is one of two against the former president who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2011 after nearly three decades in power.

He is being retried over the killings of hundreds of protesters during the uprising. Mubarak's two sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa, were also convicted of corruption and sentenced to four years in prison each in the same case.

The three Mubaraks were convicted of charges they embezzled millions of dollars' worth of state funds in over a decade towards the end of Mubarak's rule, the funds were meant for renovating presidential palaces.