Prison official: Mubarak in poor health

CAIRO, June 5 (UPI) -- Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in poor health and is in the hospital ward at Tora Prison, the Interior Ministry's Prisons Department said.

Mubarak has been in the prison's hospital since a Cairo criminal court sentenced him to life in prison at the conclusion of his trial Saturday for his role in the violence against pro-democracy activists during last year's Arab Spring, Egypt Independent reported Tuesday.

"Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, visited him in the intensive care unit for an hour as procedures and the health condition of her husband allow her to visit him," Maj. Gen. Mohamed al-Eiwa told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Eiwa said Suzanne Mubarak has given her husband some personal belongings.

While she is screened like other prison visitors, Suzanne Mubarak can visit her husband in the intensive care unit because Mubarak's knee problems hinder his movement, Eiwa said.

"So she was allowed to enter his room instead of us taking him to the visitors' area," Eiwa said.

Eiwa said Mubarak's wife was his only visitor, squelching speculation that other members of his regime had visited him. Eiwa also said the former president is served only prison food and denied that cameras were placed in his cell.