US News

Mubarak ‘depressed, fainting’ as shock of being ousted hits health

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — The health of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is deteriorating and he is suffering from psychological distress after being forced from power, officials and media reports said Monday.

Ambulances and doctors were seen driving along the private driveway of Mubarak’s mansion in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday and security guards said that he was unwell.

“He has been feeling very unwell … he is a very, very sick man,” a security guard, who has worked for Mubarak for three years, said, according to The (London) Times.

Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian Ambassador to Washington, said that Mubarak, 82, was “possibly in somewhat bad health.” Two Egyptian newspapers said that the former president was depressed, refusing to take medication and passing out repeatedly.

The state of Mubarak’s health had been a secret during his 29 years in power. A newspaper editor was once jailed for questioning his wellbeing. It was known that he had surgery in March last year in Germany to remove an inflamed gall bladder and a benign intestinal tumor.

There were also reports Monday of family tensions during Mubarak’s last 24 hours in office, with the army urging him to quit to save the country from chaos but his family pushing him to cling to power. The independent online news site Almasry Alyoum said that Mubarak had an argument with his son and heir-apparent Gamal, snapping at him: “You have ruined my history in Egypt.”

There was also a row between Gamal and his elder brother Alaa as their father made a last appeal to the nation to allow him to stay until the elections in September. Alaa accused Gamal of ruining the country by helping his business cronies to become political leaders and miring Egypt in corruption and nepotism, the state-owned newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.

“Instead of working to help your father be honored at the end of his life, you helped to damage his image this way,” Alaa allegedly told Gamal. The brothers nearly came to blows and had to be separated by senior officials, the newspaper added.