CAIRO: Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will undergo medical tests while in Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, state television said on Thursday in a rare statement on the leader’s health.
Mubarak “will go to the German city of Heidelberg on Friday afternoon to undergo some medical tests following complaints of gall bladder pain, TV said.
The health of Mubarak, who turns 82 this year, is a taboo subject in the country he has ruled since 1981, fuelling regular rumors on the subject.
In 2007, speculation snowballed to the extent that the president was forced to make an unscheduled public appearance to put a rest to the rumors.
A year later, Ibrahim Eissa, editor in the chief of the independent daily Al-Dostour, was sentenced to two months in prison for writing about Mubarak’s health, before receiving a presidential pardon. -AFP
