CAIRO: Egypt's state prosecutor will appeal verdicts by a court that sentenced Hosni Mubarak and his interior minister to life but acquitted his sons and police commanders, the prosecutor's office said on Sunday.

"The state prosecutor has ordered the start of the appeals procedure," a source in his office said, of Saturday's verdicts which sparked protests in several cities across Egypt.

It was not immediately clear whether all the verdicts would be appealed or just the acquittals.

The prosecutor also ordered a travel ban on the six police commanders the court acquitted pending the appeal, the official MENA news agency.

Saturday's verdict against former president Mubarak, who was charged with ordering and complicity in the killings of protesters during last year's uprising that ousted him, sparked mass protests in Cairo and other cities.

Both Mubaraks' defence and lawyers who represented his victims said the verdicts, which appeared to exonerate police of the protesters' deaths, could be easily appealed.

The court also dropped corruption charges against Mubarak, his two sons Alaa and Gamal and a businessman because of a statute of limitations on their alleged act of bribery.