Mubarak on ventilator after visit from wife in his prison cell

The health of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak declined sharply yesterday, three days after a court jailed him for life over the killing of protesters.

An official at Cairo’s Torah prison said Mubarak collapsed several times and was placed on a ventilation machine after having difficulty breathing. He said his condition worsened after a visit by wife Suzanne on Monday, who sobbed after seeing the 86-year-old in prison uniform.

Prison authorities turned down a request by Mubarak to bring in two of his own doctors, the official said. However, they agreed to transfer his son Gamal, also a prisoner, to a nearby cell.

Mubarak was sentenced on Saturday for failing to stop the killings of protesters in the 2011 uprising. His conviction saw him transferred to a jail for the first time. From his arrest in April 2011, he has been in hospitals, first in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik and later at a military hospital in Cairo.

His sons Alaa and Gamal were acquitted on Saturday of corruption, but are being held over separate charges of insider trading.