Doctors administer oxygen to Mubarak

Hosni Mubarak’s condition has deteriorated so much that doctors at the Cairo prison where he is serving a life sentence had to constantly administer oxygen to him overnight, security officials said on Thursday.

The officials at Cairo’s Torah prison said 84-year-old Mubarak is suffering breathing problems, high blood pressure and depression. He did not speak to his doctors or anyone else except for a few words to his son and one-time heir apparent Gamal, who is being held in the same prison and was at his father’s side, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

They said Mubarak was given oxygen throughout the night and until Thursday morning.
Security officials say Mubarak’s health has deteriorated sharply since Saturday, when he and his ex-security chief were sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killing of protesters during the uprising that toppled him last year.

Mubarak had been held in military hospitals from his arrest in April last year up until his sentencing. He did not want to go to the Torah prison hospital after the sentencing Saturday, pleading with his escort to take him back to the military hospital east of Cairo where he had stayed in a suite since his trial began in August. Before that, he was held in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Mubarak and his two sons were acquitted of corruption charges in Saturday’s mixed verdict. But they are being held in prison on new charges of insider trading, brought just days before their acquittals were announced in the separate case with their father.
The acquittals brought harsh criticism from the Islamist-dominated parliament.