There have been conflicting reports on Tuesday night on the state of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was transferred from the Tora Prison Hospital to a military hospital following a stroke.
State-run news agency MENA had reported that Mubarak clinically died after arriving to the Maadi Military Hospital in South Cairo. MENA quoted official medical sources as saying that his heart stopped beating and he did not respond after being defibrillated several times.
However, Reuters reported that two security sources said Mubarak was unconscious and on a respirator but not clinically dead.
Farid al-Deeb, Mubarak’s attorney, also denied reports of Mubarak’s clinical death. In a call to the privately-owned Al-Hayat satellite channel, he said that the ousted president is responding to treatment at the hospital.
Clinical death is a medical term for the halt of both blood circulation and breathing after cardiac arrest.
Brigadier General Mohamed Elewa, spokesperson for the prisons department, had confirmed earlier Tuesday that Mubarak suffered a stroke.
MENA said that Mubarak was taken to the intensive care unit upon his arrival at the military hospital to get treatment for the stroke.
Al-Ahram reported that journalists were banned from entering the hospital.
Deeb lauded the military leadership for transferring Mubarak to the military hospital, the website of state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported.
A prison official speaking had earlier told The Associated Press that the 84-year-old former president was unconscious and had been placed on a respirator. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Since Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison on 2 June for not stopping the deaths of protesters during the 18-day uprising that resulted in his ouster, he has suffered from high blood pressure, respiratory problems and deep depression. He was transferred to Tora Prison from a military hospital where he had been residing during his trial.
