Mubarak health scare in prison

The ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak collapses in prison and was placed on a ventilator after he had difficulty breathing.

CAIRO // The ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak collapsed in prison yesterday and was placed on a ventilator after he had difficulty breathing.

Mubarak's condition worsened after a visit on Monday by his wife Suzanne, who sobbed after seeing him in a prison blue suit.

Authorities at Torah prison in Cairo turned down Mubarak's request for two of his personal doctors to oversee his condition, but they agreed to transfer his son Gamal, also a prisoner, to a nearby cell.

Mubarak was jailed for life on Saturday for complicity in the killings of protesters in the 2011 uprising, and transferred to prison for the first time. Since his arrest in April 2011 he had been in hospitals, initially in his favourite Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheik and later at a suite in a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.

His sons Alaa and Gamal were cleared of corruption but remain in custody on separate charges of insider trading.

After the sentencing Mubarak was reported to have suffered a health crisis on the helicopter flight to a Cairo prison hospital. One state media report said it was a heart attack, but that could not be confirmed.

Mubarak insisted he be flown to the military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo where he was held in a luxury suite during the trial. He finally left the aircraft and moved to the prison hospital more than two hours after the helicopter landed.

On Sunday, according to the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, he told security officials that the military council who took over after he stepped down had deceived him. "Egypt has sold me. They want me to die here," he said.