Hosni Mubarak in ill health at Egypt hospital
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak with President Obama in 2009.
(Photo courtesy of the federal government)
There are conflicting reports surrounding the condition of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted from power in 2011 during the Arab Spring.
The Egyptian state news agency MENA had claimed according to a report from the Agence France-Presse news agency that the 84 year old had been declared clinically dead, after having been transferred to a military hospital from prison because of a stroke. “Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead,” MENA said per the AFP. “Medical sources told MENA his heart had stopped beating and did not respond to defibrillation.”
General Said Abbas however told Reuters that the report that Mubarak had been clinically dead was false. “Any talk of him being clinically dead is nonsense,” Abbas said, but confirmed that Mubarak did suffer a stroke. Another military source in the country told Reuters that Mubarak was unconscious. “He is completely unconscious. He is using artificial respiration,” the source told Reuters. A report from the Associated Press conveyed by the BBC has said that Mubarak is on life support.
A call by Uloop to the State Department seeking comment was not returned.
Protesters in Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital Cairo began chanting against military rule and then sung the Egyptian national anthem as news of Mubarak’s health came to their attention.
Mubarak was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison for his role in the killing of protesters before he had been removed from power, according to a report from the BBC. Elections were held over the weekend in the country, with sides of both presidential candidates, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi and his opponent Ahmed Shafiq, saying they both had won the election. Results of the election, according to the BBC, are to be announced June 21.