Family granted permission to visit critically ill Mubarak
CAIRO: Hosni Mubarak is slipping in and out of consciousness a week after the ousted Egyptian leader was sent to prison to begin serving a life sentence.
With rumours of the former president’s death spreading rapidly, authorities granted his wife, former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, and the couple’s two daughters-in-law special per- mission to visit him in Cairo’s Torah Prison yesterday.
“The former president’s health is in decline, but now it’s stable in its deteriorated state,” the official said. Since his wife’s visit, Mubarak has suffered from an irregular heartbeat and required help in breathing.
The official said the former president now lives only on liq- uids and yogurt.
Mubarak’s health is reported to have worsened since his June 2 conviction for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in 2011. His life sentence saw him transferred immediately to a prison hospital.
Authorities had turned down requests by Mubarak’s family to transfer the ousted president back to a military facility, the official said.
According to security officials, Mrs Mubarak lashed out at wardens for not giving her husband permission to seek treatment outside the prison. “You will be responsible for his death,” she allegedly said.
Mubarak’s two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are also being held. They were acquitted on June 2 of corruption charges, but still face separate charges of insider trading.
Media reports said his lawyer Farid al-Deeb informed him that he would soon be transferred back to a military facility in the Cairo suburb of Maadi.
In his last public appearance on June 2, the bedridden Mubarak sat stone-faced in the courtroom cage. However, officials said that he broke into tears when he learnt that he would be transferred to Torah Prison.
Media reports quoted Mubarak at the time as saying the military council who took over after his ousting had deceived him. “Egypt has sold me. They want me to die here,” he reportedly said. – Sapa-AP