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Egypt’s Mubarak unfit for prison move: prosecutor | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s public prosecutor said on Tuesday that ousted President Hosni Mubarak was in no condition to be transferred to a prison hospital and would remain in a health facility in a Red Sea resort for the time being.

Mubarak, overthrown on February 11 after a popular uprising, has been detained since mid-April in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, rather than in a prison medical center, after it was reported that he suffered heart problems during initial questioning.

A medical team determined that Mubarak should not be transferred “outside of Sharm el-Sheikh hospital at the current time and to hire a specialized medical team to oversee his treatment,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

“The committee examined the patient in his intensive care room and found that he is clearly frail and depressed and cannot leave the bed without assistance,” it said.

It added that the Torah prison hospital on Cairo’s outskirts was “unsuitable for a patient in a critical condition.”

Mubarak was ordered last week to stand trial for the killing of protesters, corruption and wasting public funds. The charges, which he has denied, include “premeditated killing,” a crime which is punishable by death.

The timing of the illness meant he has not joined other former officials in jail and has fueled talk that he was getting special treatment from the army. The military now ruling Egypt deny this and say the case is in the hands of the judiciary.

The six-member medical team appointed by the prosecutor found Mubarak had low blood pressure, weak blood circulation to the brain resulting in frequent fainting and an irregular heartbeat, leaving him at risk of sudden heart attack, the statement said.

It noted he suffered from tumors in his gall bladder and pancreas, for which he has had operations in the past.