A fact-finding commission set up by Egypt's interim government says at least 846 people were killed during the popular uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak's longstanding rule.

Alaa Mubarak, left, and brother Gamal, seen in Cairo in January, were arrested and sent to a Cairo jail last week amid a corruption investigation. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press)

Authorities had initially put the death toll at less than half that — at around 380.

A panel of judges tasked with investigating the regime's final days reported Tuesday what it described as the excessive use of force by security personnel in the face of the growing mass protests, which began Jan. 25.

The report said that security forces fired live ammunition, placed snipers on rooftops and used vehicles to run over protesters. More than 6,400 people were injured, the report said.

The panel of judges said police deliberately aimed at protesters' upper bodies. "The fatal shots were due to firing bullets at the head and the chest," the report read. It said hundreds of others lost their sight from eye injuries.

Mubarak was forced from power in February following a revolution across the country. Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa, are among a growing list of former government ministers and officials now under investigation.

Mubarak and sons face questioning

Hosni Mubarak was arrested last week and is being held in a hospital awaiting questioning.

His two sons could face corruption charges as Egypt's interim government investigates the actions of the former regime.

A public prosecutor involved in the probe declined to say where the interviews with the Mubaraks might take place.

The arrests pleased Egyptian reformers who have complained that the pace of change since the revolution has been far too slow.

In Cairo's Tahrir Square, the centre of the uprising that led to the ouster of Mubarak, little sympathy could be found for him or his family.

Magdad Berazi told CBC News he believes it is good that the authorities are going after Mubarak and his sons. "It shows the new Egypt is firm and just," he said.

Sharif Anwar said, "It is like the pharaoh has been put down.… We were repressed, but now he is out" of power, he said.

Egyptians are looking forward to a new life, Anwar added.