Egypt's Mubarak is clinically dead

Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak was declared clinically dead after he was transferred to hospital from prison on Tuesday, state media reported, saying his heart had stopped beating.

"Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead," the official MENA news agency reported. "Medical sources told MENA his heart had stopped beating and did not respond to defibrillation."

Mubarak was transferred from prison to a military hospital in the Cairo district of Maadi earlier Tuesday evening after suffering a stroke and undergoing defibrillation in prison.

The 84-year-old former strongman was sentenced to life behind bars on June 2 for suppressing a revolt against his rule in early 2011 during which nearly 850 protesters were killed.

His medical condition deteriorated after the verdict and he suffered an emotional breakdown after being moved to an intensive care wing in Cairo's Tora prison.

Doctors treated him with a defibrillator twice on June 11, according to a prison hospital source.

He has suffered from acute depression since his transfer, as well as periodic increases in blood pressure and shortness of breath, interior ministry officials said.

Mubarak's wife Suzanne and his two daughters-in-law were given special permission to visit him following rumours that he had died in prison.

His family has formally requested a transfer to a Cairo hospital but such a move threatened to unleash the anger of activists and protesters.

AFP