Hosni Mubarak at risk of suffering stroke anytime

More than a week after he was sentenced to life in prison, Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak's health deteriorated further as he was slipping in and out of coma and was at risk of suffering a stroke any time.

Eighty four-year-old Mubarak, who has been undergoing treatment at the Tora prison hospital, is experiencing breathlessness due to his heart problems, reports in the state media said on Sunday.

His heartbeat is irregular and he has to be put on a ventilator for extended periods, the reports said quoting hospital sources, adding that he was slipping in and out of coma.

He is in danger of suffering a stroke any time, they said.

His wife Suzanne and two daughters-in-law were allowed to meet him on Sunday morning in a rare gesture by the authorities, the reports said.

Earlier also, prison officials had said that Mubarak was suffering from breathing difficulties, nervous breakdown and depression after being sentenced to life imprisonment on June 2 for complicity in the killing of protesters demonstrating against his 30-year rule last year.

The prison officials had said that Mubarak had collapsed several times.

The Tora Prison Hospital administration had reportedly brought in recently a team of cardiologists who had examined the ousted president and found that he was suffering from a nervous breakdown, depression, high blood pressure and problem breathing.

Mubarak's elder son Gamal had been earlier moved to a ward next to the hospital to allow him to monitor his father in the intensive care unit.