Is his legal (and political) day of reckoning at hand? An ailing ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons have been detained as officials begin to investigate the government violence against demonstrators that took place when Mubarak was President.
Ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s health deteriorated on Wednesday, state media said, hours after he and his two sons were placed under 15-day detention in an inquiry into violence against protesters.
The official MENA news agency reported that the 82-year-old Mubarak, in police custody in a Red Sea resort hospital, was in “unstable” condition.
Mubarak’s “health condition is unstable, and he is under observation”, the agency quoted a hospital source as saying.
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The former leader’s two sons, Gamal and Alaa, were transferred to a Cairo prison earlier in the day.A statement on the public prosecutor’s Facebook page said chief prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmud authorised the detentions “as part of an inquiry into the use of force against protesters during the unrest in January and February”.
Mubarak resigned on February 11 after 18 days of protests, with security forces believed to have killed hundreds of people in the first few days.
Here’s the AP video report:
UPI reports that Mubarak’s son is in a near state of shock:
Gamal Mubarak, the deposed president’s son, is in a state of total disbelief inside his prison cell in an Egyptian detention center, a source said Wednesday.
Hosni Mubarak was reportedly whisked away to a hospital in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheik during questioning on corruption charges. His sons Gamal, once allegedly groomed for the presidency, and Alaa are in police custody for 15 days on charges of corruption and abuse of power.
Gamal was reportedly in bad shape inside the Tora jail cell, reports Ahram Online.
“Gamal did not look like the Gamal we have seen on TV,” a source told Ahram Online. “He is in a state of total disbelief.”
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s main reform movement, said it wanted all members of the former Mubarak regime sacked and brought to justice. The country’s interior ministry is charged with allegedly ordering security forces to fire on unarmed protesters during the height of the Egyptian unrest in January.
NPR’s blog also has some details:
After Tuesday’s dramatic start of the investigation of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family, the prosecutor has now resumed questioning the 82-year-old Mubarak at his hospital bedside, NPR’s Deborah Amos reports from Cairo.
As we reported yesterday, Mubarak was rushed to a hospital Tuesday for what may have been heart problems. That news came just a day after it was revealed that authorities have launched an investigation into allegations of corruption during Mubarak’s nearly 30 years as Egypt’s leader.
Today, Deb reports that “Mubarak collapsed under questioning after refusing to eat or drink in the two days since his summons.” Once the state minister of health declared that Mubarak’s condition was stable, however, “the prosecutor resumed questioning at his bedside and ordered Mubarak and his sons officially detained.”
Here’s a Mubarak timeline.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.