CAIRO, April 15 (Reuters) - A Cairo criminal court acquitted a leading member of Egypt's ruling party and six others on Tuesday of supplying hospitals with substandard blood bags, judicial sources said.

National Democratic Party parliamentarian Hani Surour, who heads parliament's economic affairs committee, owns Hidelina, a medical supplies company that sold thousands of blood bags to hospitals run by the ministry of health.

Experts and officials with the ministry said the bags were substandard and allowed their contents to spoil, putting the lives of patients at risk.

Parliament had stripped Surour of his immunity from prosecution in January 2007, and the court had ordered Surour and the six others, including his sister, detained in September while they stood trial on the charges.

The court has not yet issued a detailed explanation of its ruling, judicial sources said. (Writing by Aziz El-Kaissouni) (aziz.el-kaissouni@reuters.com; +20 2 2578 3290/1; Reuters Messaging: aziz.el-kaissouni.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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