Egypt’s Mubarak Revived Twice After Heart Stoppages

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had to be revived twice using a defibrillator, as his condition deteriorates days before the country is due to elect a successor.

Mubarak received the treatment after his heart stopped, Brigadier General Mohamed Elewa, a spokesman for the prison department, said in a telephone interview today. The 84-year-old, who is serving a life sentence in Cairo’s Tora prison for failing to prevent the deaths of protesters killed in last year’s uprising, has reportedly been getting progressively worse since his conviction on June 2.

Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, seen here in January, was revived twice using a defibrillator after his heart stopped beating, Brigadier General Mohamed Elewa said. “His heart has stopped as a result of the grave neglect in his treatment and failure to respond to our request since last Wednesday to transfer him to a military hospital,” Mubarak’s attorney, Farid ElDib, said by phone. “The hospital has no preparations to deal with such a case, but no one is responding to our request in order to appease the Muslim Brotherhood which wants to gloat, whether he is alive or dead.”

The worsening of Mubarak’s condition comes as his former aide Ahmed Shafik prepares to contest a runoff presidential race against the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi. The emergence of the two most divisive candidates from the first-round vote has added to tensions in a country struggling to recover from the revolt that toppled Mubarak last year.