CAIRO: Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, ordered to stand trial over the killing of protesters, is in stable condition but suffers bouts of depression, the state news agency reported on Wednesday.
It was citing a director at the Red Sea resort hospital that is treating Mubarak, 83, who was ordered on Tuesday to stand trial for crimes that could carry the death penalty. He was ousted on Feb. 11 and has been in hospital since April.
The decision to put Mubarak on trial came shortly before Friday’s planned demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the center of the uprising. Activists called for a rally to demand faster reforms and a public trial for Mubarak and others.
A medical source had said he could not be moved from the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh unless the Cairo jail where other officials are held was properly equipped.
"(Mubarak’s) health condition is relatively stable but he is in a turbulent psychological state and is sometimes subject to periods of depression," Mohamed Fatahallah, director of Mubarak’s hospital in Sharm El-Sheikh, told the news agency.
He said a special medical committee assigned by the public prosecutor to examine Mubarak had prepared a report on his health and sent it to the public prosecutor.
Mubarak was detained in hospital, rather than moved to prison, after it was reported that he suffered heart problems during initial questioning.
Mubarak’s two sons Alaa and Gamal, already in jail, were referred to the criminal court on the same charges. His wife, who was ordered detained in a graft investigation, has been freed after signing over some assets but is still being investigated.
Mubarak’s charges include "pre-meditated killing", a crime that can be punished by death.
