CAIRO: Egypt's top security official recommended that ousted President Hosni Mubarak not be moved from the hospital where he is being kept under arrest at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to a statement by the prosecutor general's office. Interior Minister Mansour el-Issawi wrote to the prosecutor general, who had earlier ordered the deposed president's transfer to a military hospital near Cairo, that Mubarak's health was too poor, said the statement issued late Tuesday. El-Issawi recommended waiting until the former president's health had stabilized before moving him. Mubarak, 82, stepped down in February in the face of an 18-day uprising. He was placed under arrest in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital over allegations of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters in the 18-day uprising that toppled him. He was admitted to hospital because of a heart condition. Mubarak underwent surgery in Germany last year to remove a gallbladder. A government medical team had already ruled out transferring Mubarak to the hospital of Tora prison, where stalwarts of his regime, including his two sons, the prime minister and the heads of parliament's two chambers, are held over allegations of corruption, mismanagement of state funds and firing on protesters. The team reported that the Tora prison hospital was too poorly equipped to tend to the ailing ex-president's help and instead he was to be sent to a better equipped military facility. The news came on the same day as the start of the trial of one of Mubarak's most powerful allies, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, and four of his aides, also for the deadly shooting of protesters. Prosecutor Mustapha Khater demanded the death penalty for el-Adly and his aides who ran the country's powerful security services. Nearly 850 people were killed in the Jan. 25-Feb. 11 uprising, according to a report by state-appointed investigators.
