Egypt prosecutor orders Mubarak to army hospital

CAIRO – Egypt’s prosecutor general ordered Sunday that former president Hosni Mubarak be moved from his hospital in a Red Sea resort town to a military medical facility, according to his website.

Mubarak was originally supposed to be moved to Cairo’s Tora prison hospital, but it was deemed not yet ready to receive him, said a spokesman for Prosecutor General Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud.

Instead the former president will stay in a military hospital until the prison facility is ready, said the spokesman Adel Said in a statement posted on the prosecutor’s Facebook page.

“The public prosecutor addressed the interior minister, informing him to take the necessary steps to move the former president … to a military hospital, to implement a custody order,” the statement said.

A report by a top forensic medical official said Mubarak could be moved without endangering his health, as long as he was given appropriate medical treatment, added the statement.

Mubarak was hospitalized with heart problems after he and his sons were ordered into custody April 13 while being investigated for corruption allegations and their role in the shooting of protesters during the 18 days of demonstrations against his rule. Under the pressure of those demonstrations, Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11.

Mubarak is scheduled to stay in custody for 15 days – until April 28 – but his detention will most likely be extended.

Thousands of Egyptians had demanded that Mubarak be placed in a prison compound, where his sons and many of his former ministers and officials are housed, instead of staying in hospital.

Mubarak’s sons and the top officials of the former ruling party are being held in Cairo’s Tora prison while they are investigated on charges ranging from corruption to squandering public funds.