Former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafik acquitted of corruption charges Hours later, a Cairo judge threw out a fifth and final case in which Shafik, a former commander of Egypt's air force, and other air force officers were charged with corruption. Judicial authorities said the Cairo Criminal Court sent the case back to Egypt's attorney general, who may choose to file the case anew or abandon it. The attorney general's office declined to comment. But a Shafik aide said Thursday that Shafik, who fled to the United Arab Emirates shortly after Morsi's election, was optimistic. "I don't think the attorney general will raise [the case] again," said Ahmad Sarhan, who also served as Shafik's campaign adviser. He said Shafik had seemed "very relaxed" during a phone call before the verdicts. Sarhan also said that the court's dismissal of the two cases paves the way for Shafik's return to Egyptian politics. "He's going to return to Egypt soon," Sarhan said, adding that Shafik plans to "put his full energy" into building his new political party, the Egyptian National Movement - trying to grab as much as he can for the next parliament." Shafik told Reuters news agency in September that he would not run for president if the commander of Egypt's armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, decided to run. Sissi, who instigated Morsi's ouster in a July 3 coup, has not said whether he will seek the presidency. Shafik is one of several members of Mubarak's regime, including Mubarak himself and the head of his former ruling party, who have been acquitted or had verdicts overturned since Morsi's ouster. They were charged in the wake of Egypt's 2011 uprising, which deposed Mubarak after 30 years of autocratic rule. Egyptian security forces, meanwhile, have arrested thousands of Morsi's Islamist supporters and political allies. The Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Morsi, says the charges against them are politically motivated. Essam Sultan, an Islamist politician who filed the charges against Shafik under Morsi's rule, is now in jail, facing charges of inciting violence. In September, Sultan was convicted of insulting Shafik and was ordered to pay a fine of about $5,800. Morsi is on trial for inciting murder. On Wednesday, Egypt's attorney general said the former president would also face charges of conspiring with foreign militant groups. In recent weeks, the military-backed government has also gone after human rights groups and liberal youth activists for protesting the extensive powers of Egypt's military, which have been codified in a new draft constitution. They also object to a new law that effectively bans protests. Security forces raided a human rights group in Cairo overnight on Wednesday. On Thursday, police arrested Mohamed Adel, one of three of the country's most prominent non-Islamist youth activists, on charges on violating the new protest law. Sharaf al-Hourani contributed to this report.