Mubarak's health takes turn for worse

CAIRO -- The health of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak deteriorated sharply yesterday, three days after a court sentenced him to life imprisonment in connection with the killing of protesters, a security official said.

The official at Torah prison in Cairo said Mubarak collapsed several times and was placed on mechanical ventilation after having difficulty breathing. His condition worsened after a visit Monday by his wife, former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, who sobbed after seeing him in a prison blue suit.

Prison authorities turned down a request by Mubarak to have two of his personal doctors oversee his condition, the official said. They did agree to transfer his son Gamal, also a prisoner, to a nearby cell.

Mubarak was sentenced Saturday for failing to stop killings of protesters in the 2011 uprising. Conviction saw him transferred to prison facilities for the first time. From his arrest in April 2011 until the verdict, he has been in hospitals, first in his Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, then a suite in a military hospital on Cairo's outskirts.

Sons Alaa and Gamal were acquitted Saturday of corruption charges, but are still held over a separate trial in charges of insider trading.

At the trial on Saturday, the bedridden Mubarak sat stony-faced in the courtroom cage. He wore dark sunglasses, concealing his eyes. His sons looked nervous but did not react to the conviction of their father or to their own acquittals.

After the sentencing, Mubarak reportedly suffered a health crisis on the helicopter flight to a prison hospital in Cairo. One state media report said it was a heart attack, but that could not be confirmed.

Officials said Mubarak cried out in protest and resisted leaving the helicopter. They said he insisted he be flown to the military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo where he was held in a luxury suite during the trial.

More than two hours after the helicopter landed Mubarak finally left the chopper and moved to the prison hospital.

On Sunday, according to the independent daily al-Masry al-Youm, he told security officials that the military council who took over after his ouster had deceived him. "Egypt has sold me. They want me to die here," he reportedly said.