Cairo - Egyptian security officials say Hosni Mubarak's condition has shown a "slight" improvement but that the ousted leader is refusing prison food. The officials at Torah prison where Mubarak is serving his life sentence say the 84-year-old former president ate yogurt and drank juice yesterday and was being given liquids and vitamins intravenously. The officials say Mubarak's sons are by his side. The officials spoke on anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media. Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison on June 2 for failing to prevent the killing of protesters during the uprising that toppled his regime. Mubarak's condition stabilised on Tuesday, but his lawyer said the 84-year old former president does not trust his doctors in the prison hospital and fears they are out to kill him. There have been conflicting reports about Mubarak's condition since a court convicted him on June 2 of failing to prevent the killings of protesters in the uprising that ousted him last year. He was sentenced to life in prison. Since his arrival at the prison, the 84-year old Mubarak has been suffering from high blood pressure and breathing difficulties and is diagnosed with deep depression, according to security officials at Torah prison. On Monday, doctors used a defibrillator on him twice after they could not find a pulse. In TV programme, el-Deeb said he had asked concerned authorities to transfer Mubarak to a better equipped military hospital because of his fragile health. El-Deeb painted a picture of a paranoid man who does not trust the medical team in the prison and who has at times resisted their instructions. He was speaking on CBC, a private TV station. "Mubarak doesn't trust anyone anymore. He was surprised to find new doctors treating him, not the ones who treated him before, and is afraid to take anything from anyone. He doesn't recognize the faces around him. This is a big problem for him," el-Deeb said. At one point, Mubarak told his lawyer that he fears his doctors are out to kill him. "`Help me Farid,' he said in a very faint voice," el-Deeb quoted Mubarak as saying. "He said: `I'm uncomfortable and I don't feel safe. I feel they are ordered to kill me.'" The lawyer said the decision to transfer him to the prison hospital was a surprise to him and his team, because despite pressure from parliament and protesters to transfer Mubarak to prison, his doctors had said his condition does not permit it. Since he was detained in April 2011, Mubarak had spent time in a luxury suite of a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. He was later transferred to a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo after his trial began in August, where he was regularly visited by family, and where he was said to have exercised and appeared in pictures on his feet, unlike his appearances in court on a hospital bed. A prosecution official said that it is up to the prison authorities to decide whether Mubarak needs to be transferred to another hospital. They would be held responsible if they fail to act in due time, said the official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the media. Alaa Mahmoud, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said Mubarak's condition is stable but that he is not well. He said there has been no decision yet to transfer him to another hospital and that medical doctors from the police academy and the prison are monitoring his condition. Medical officials said Mubarak's condition had improved by Tuesday and he was administered oxygen to aid his breathing once for five minutes. El-Deeb visited Mubarak in the Torah prison hospital. He said during his 90 minutes visit, Mubarak slipped in an out of consciousness three times. He described a medical facility that is not equipped to deal with his client's critical condition, despite a $1 million renovation to accommodate the ousted leader. Mubarak's health condition, just like the verdict against him, has consumed public debate in Egypt as the country's is seething with political uncertainty ahead of a presidential runoff election on Saturday and Sunday.
