Mubarak in critical condition,wife allowed access

The official said that the former president now lives only on liquids and yogurt

Hosni Mubarak is in critical condition and is slipping in and out of consciousness eight days after the ousted Egyptian leader was sent to prison to begin serving a life sentence,a security official said on Sunday.

With rumours of the former presidents death spreading rapidly,authorities granted his wife,former first lady Suzanne Mubarak,and the couples two daughters-in-law special permission to visit him in Cairos Torah prison early Sunday morning.

The former presidents health is in decline,but now its stable in its deteriorated state, the official said. Since his wifes visit,Mubarak has suffered from an irregular heartbeat and required assistance in breathing.

The official said that the former president now lives only on liquids and yogurt. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mubaraks health is reported to have collapsed since his June 2 conviction for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in 2011. His life sentence saw him transferred immediately to a prison hospital,instead of the military hospital and other facilities where he had been held since his April 2011 arrest.

Authorities have turned down several requests by Mubaraks family to transfer the ousted president back to a military facility,the official said. On Saturday Mubaraks wife was denied access to the Intensive Care Unit where he was placed,as authorities limit family visitations to one a month. According to security officials quoted by al-Masry al-Youm daily,Suzanne Mubarak lashed out at wardens for not giving her husband permission to seek treatment outside the prison. You will be responsible for his death, she allegedly said.

Mubaraks two sons Alaa and Gamal are also being held. They were acquitted on June 2 of corruption charges,but still face separate charges of insider trading.

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On Saturday,Egypts state run news agency MENA quoted officials as saying that Mubarak is at risk of stroke,quoting a medical teams report.

Other media reports said that his lawyer Farid al-Deeb informed him that he will soon be transferred back to a military facility in the Cairo suburb of Maadi.

In his last public appearance on June 2,bedridden Mubarak sat stoned-faced in the courtroom cage. However,officials said he broke into tears when he learnt that he will be transferred to Torah prison. It took officials hours to convince him to leave the helicopter that ferried him from courthouse to the prison.