CAIRO (Updated) - Chief Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud Friday decided to renew the detention of ex-president Hosni Mubarak for 15 days for questioning, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Mahmoud instructed the nation's top forensic doctor to review conditions in a Cairo prison hospital and bring in medical equipment for ailing former president Hosni Mubarak to be transferred there, in a sign that an earlier request by the under-arrest ex-president to stay in Sharm el-Sheikh was turned down. "The top forensic doctor and other specialists are ordered to review the hospital in Torah Prison, complete any necessary medical equipment for Mubarak to stay in during his preventive detention," a legal source said. He added that the prison hospital would be 'medically appropriate' for 82-year-old Mubarak to stay in. The decision by the Chief Prosecutor was a response to a request by Mubarak to stay in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. The official Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted a medical source in Sharm el-Sheikh as saying that Mubarak's health was "unstable". Mubarak "is in suite 309 and his health is unstable," the source said, gesturing that his transfer could be delayed. Doctors are following up on Mubarak's health and "carrying out several medical tests to know the cause of the instability", the source added. Mubarak's 30-year rule of Egypt ended on February 11 after nearly three weeks of anti-regime protests. He is under arrest in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, being questioned over his alleged role in violence against protesters during the popular uprising. Army sources told Reuters on Wednesday that he had wanted to remain in the hospital there, where he took refuge after pro-democracy protests ousted him from power in February. "Mubarak put in a request to the military council," an Army source said, referring to the generals who took over from their former commander-in-chief. "He hopes they'll listen." Mubarak was admitted to the hospital with an unspecified illness the day the Chief prosecutor ordered him detained for interrogation on corruption and murder allegations. He denies wrongdoing. Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa, were also ordered detained on similar charges on the same day, and are now in prison in Cairo along with several other ex-senior officials. Security sources say Mubarak fears suffering the same fate, and is worried a move out of Sharm el-Sheikh would only hasten his imprisonment. The Army rulers appear to be taking a softer line when it comes to Mubarak, although security sources say he will, eventually, face justice. "Mubarak is gradually realising that he will face legal reckoning. There is no delay in moving the legal process forward. What is going on now is a process of allowing him to adapt to his fate," one security source said. What ails Mubarak remains a mystery, as the Army has refused to make any public comment about his health, a subject that was also taboo during his presidency. Last week, the prosecution ordered Mubarak moved to a military hospital in Cairo, saying he would be interrogated once he is well enough. So far, Mubarak has not been pronounced well enough, although medical sources say his health is stable. Mubarak reportedly stopped eating or taking his medication on Tuesday to persuade the Army into agreeing to keep him in Sharm el-Sheikh, medical sources say. But it is very difficult to find out exactly what the former president does in his suite at the glass-fronted, pyramid-shaped hospital because his guards allow very few people to see him.
