Egypt's public prosecutor has referred former president Hosni Mubarak to stand trial in a criminal court for his alleged role in the killing of anti-government protesters during the country's uprising.

The charges included "intentional murder, attempted killing of some demonstrators ... misuse of influence and deliberately wasting public funds and unlawfully making private financial gains and profits", the prosecutor said in a statement on Tuesday.

The prosecutor also referred Mubarak's two sons, Ala'a and Gamal, and a close confidant, Hussien Salam, to stand trial in a criminal court as well.

Salam, a businessman, has been blamed for a controversial deal to supply Israel with gas at lower than usual prices. He has fled the country.

'Direct involvement'

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, said there is a list of charges against the former president but the most severe charge includes the direct involvement in the killings of the protesters.

He said the charges include allegations that the former president gave the ok for senior officers of the police force as well as the former interior minister to use force in trying to suppress the protesters.

"It could very well lead to the prosecutor calling for the death penalty," our correspondent said.

"Whether or not that's going to happen is extremely premature as the case is still being formulated.

"But the general prosecutor now believes that there is enough evidence to implicate Mubarak and his two sons, as well as a fourth individual, Hussien Salam."

The decision was announced ahead of another demonstration planned in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the uprising, on Friday. Activists have called for a big turnout to demand faster reforms and a public trial for Mubarak and others.

"Every time the youth threaten to go to Tahrir Square again with a huge number of protesters, I think they make some concessions," Hassan Nafaa, a political scientist and long-time critic of Mubarak, told the Reuters news agency.

Mubarak was toppled on February 11 after an 18-day-long mass uprising from protesters demanding an end to his 30-year rule.

He was detained on April 13, a day after being hospitalised in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.