Mubarak's medical state unclear after conflicting reports
Author: Nehal El-Sherif
Cairo (dpa) - Former Egyptian president Hosny Mubarak, who was serving a life sentence in a prison hospital, was clinically dead after being transferred to a military hospital in Cairo, security sources told dpa.
Mubarak suffered a stroke Tuesday and was moved to a military medical facility.
The state-run Middle East News Agency, citing medical sources, also reported that Mubarak was declared clinically dead shortly after arriving at the military hospital.
However, a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Mamdouh Shaheen, rejected the reports and told CNN that Mubarak was not dead, but his health was deteriorating and he was in critical condition.
Egyptian state media said he suffered a stroke, after earlier reports that doctors used a defibrillator to restart Mubarak's heart after it stopped for a few seconds.
Mubarak's health has been deteriorating since his arrival in the Tora prison hospital, south of Cairo, after a court sentenced him to life in prison earlier this month on charges related to the deaths of protesters.
Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, arrived in the military hospital amid the conflicting reports, regional broadcaster Al Arabiya reported.
Tight security was imposed around the military hospital in Maadi district, where Mubarak was transferred, and journalists were banned from entering the facility, according to Al-Ahram newspaper.
In 1981, the Maadi military hospital was also the location where Egypt's president Anwar Sadat was pronounced dead after being shot by an angry Islamist soldier during a parade to commemorate the October War.
Mubarak ruled for three decades before being ousted in February 2011 following a popular uprising. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took control of the country after Mubarak was forced to step down.
His death comes after the weekend's presidential elections, seen as Egypt's first free polls ever.
Thousands of protesters were gathered however since Tuesday afternoon in Tahrir Square, the focal point of the revolt that led to Mubarak’s ouster, to rally against the SCAF, after it issued a new constitutional document that allowed it to keep legislative powers and control over the budget until a new constitution is drafted.
Activists and opposition figures have charged that the ruling junta gave Mubarak special treatment since his ouster.
