Hosni Mubarak Falls Into 'Full Coma;' Family Pleads for Medical Assistance
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has fallen into a "full coma," nine days after being sentenced to life in prison for failing to contain the outbreaks of violence last year when the military seized power, leading to the deaths of over 850 people.
His family, however, is hoping he will be taken out of a prison hospital to receive better medical assistance.
Mubarak, who was on a hospital bed when his sentence was read, has been in deteriorating health, and had been slipping in out of consciousness, suffering from a sharp rise in blood pressure and shortness of breath. On Monday, the former leader seemed to have entered a critical state, CNN reported.
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"Mubarak entered today into full coma. His two sons Gamal and Alaa submitted a request to the prison authority to move beside him and it has been accepted," ministry spokesman Alaa Mahmoud said. "His health has been deteriorating since the verdict, with high blood pressure, problems breathing, and irregular heartbeat."
The former president, who is 84 years old, was initially being treated in a military hospital, but after his life sentence was confirmed, he was immediately transferred over to a prison hospital in the city of Tura. His family has demanded that he be sent back to the military facility and taken better care of, but so far those pleas have gone unanswered.
"I visited him on Saturday and he fell in and out of consciousness three times. He has water concentrated around the heart, which can develop into a heart attack or brain blood clot and would require a rescue operation within 60 minutes," said Mubarak's lawyer, Fareed El Deeb said.
El Deeb is also pushing for Mubarak to be taken back to military hospital, and has said that the government will have to take the blame if the former president dies from lack of care.
"They were still bringing in an X-ray machine on Saturday during my visit, and there are no special nurses," the lawyer expressed. "I consider the prosecutor and government officials responsible if he dies of negligence. They are just trying to please the revolutionaries and Muslim Brotherhood by keeping him in that so-called hospital."
"Egypt has sold me. They want me to die here," Mubarak reportedly said about the government turning on him and treating him as a criminal after the verdict.
Egypt has not had a president since Mubarak was ousted last February, but the country is set to have its final vote for a new leader on June 16 and 17.
