Egypt official: Hosni Mubarak Suffers Poor Health

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is suffering from problems with his breathing and blood pressure but is not in a coma, an interior ministry spokesman has told the BBC. Mubarak, 84, was convicted on 2 June and jailed for life for ordering the killing of demonstrators last year.

His family is pressing for him to be moved from prison back to the military hospital where he was previously.

Brig Ayman Hilmi said Mubarak also had psychological problems. Officials at Tora prison, speaking on condition of anonymity, told news agencies doctors had twice defibrillated Mubarak.

However, they gave no details of whether he had suffered a heart attack. The BBC’s Jon Leyne, in Cairo, says Mubarak and his family are lobbying very hard for him to be moved back from the prison to the comfortable military hospital where he was before his conviction.

The Reuters news agency quotes security sources as saying last week that Mubarak was given artificial respiration five times in one day.