The Imprisoned Ex-Housing Minister in Hospital Over Depression

Egypt’s former housing minister Mohammad Ebrahim Sulaiman, jailed for corruption, has been transferred to a prison hospital after falling into severe depression, said security officials on Wednesday.

Sulaiman, who had served as housing minister from 1993 till 2005 under former president Hosni Mubarak, has been taken to the hospital in the Torah Prison on the outskirts of Cairo after losing appetite caused by a severe fit of depression, added the officials.

“In the past two days, it was noticed he had difficulty in speaking. The prison doctor recommended he be transferred to the hospital to be put under medical and psychological observations,” added one security source on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. In March, an Egyptian court sentenced Sulaiman, 66, to eight years in prison in two graft cases.