CAIRO, June 10 (UPI) -- Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's health is deteriorating and he is slipping in and out of consciousness, a prison official said.
The official Egyptian agency Middle East News Agency, MENA, said the ousted president was suffering from irregular heartbeats and difficulty breathing.
Mubarak was sent to the Tora prison last week after a Cairo court sentenced him to life in prison for his involvement in the deaths of anti-regime protesters last year.
The unnamed prison official said Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, and his two daughters-in-law visited the ousted leader after weekend reports in the Egyptian press claimed Mubarak was close to death. Some Egyptian Web sites speculated Mubarak died Saturday, but the Egyptian Ministry of Interior issued a statement denying those reports, albawaba.com said.
Last week's verdict sparked a wave of violent protests in Cairo with demonstrators in Tahrir Square accusing the court of handing down a lenient sentence and demanding Mubarak be sentenced to death.
