CAIRO – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's heart has stopped beating and is not responding to defibrillation, Egyptian state news agency reports.
Egypt's State TV says Mubarak is "clinically dead."
An Interior Ministry spokesman said Mubarak was moved from prison to a military hospital after reports that he suffered a stroke and his condition had rapidly worsened.
The spokesman Alaa Mahmoud says Mubarak was moved by ambulance from the hospital in Torah Prison to nearby Maadi Hospital in southern Cairo. The military facility is where Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat was declared dead after being shot by Islamic extremists in 1981.
Earlier, the state news agency said Mubarak's health condition rapidly deteriorated, with his heart stopping briefly, then suffering a stroke. It also reported that his doctors were giving him medications to break up blood clots.
State TV said Mubarak was in a "critical" condition and had been placed on a respirator. A defibrillator was used to restart Mubarak's heart after it stopped briefly.
The prison official speaking to The Associated Press said doctors reported that the 84-year-old former president has fallen unconscious. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Moving Mubarak out of prison will likely anger many in the public, where there is a widespread suspicion that security and military officials sympathetic to their old boss are giving him preferential treatment. The public is already stirred up over recent decisions by the ruling military council that have stripped the incoming president from most of his powers, further enshrining the powers of the military. Tens of thousands gathered in Tahrir Square on Tuesday to protest the new decisions.
Mubarak was sentenced to a life in prison on June 2 for failing to stop the killing of protesters during last year's uprising against him. He was transferred to prison after spending months in a military facility in detention. Officials have since repeatedly reported his health was deteriorating.
Since his arrival at the prison directly after his sentencing, Mubarak has been suffering from high blood pressure and breathing difficulties and deep depression, according to prison officials. His lawyer said he didn't trust the doctors and appealed for his transfer to a better equipped hospital.
FOX NEWS
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