Hosni Mubarak has appeared in court lying on a stretcher during his trial, where he faces a verdict today, but Egypt’s former president is living in a comfortable hospital where he is free to see relatives, walk in the garden and exercise, news reports and a source said this week.
Reuters has confirmed the account in Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan through a source who works at the hospital and requested anonymity.The newspaper depicted the 84-year-old Mubarak, ousted in an uprising in February 2011, as a cossetted retired official, exercising and swimming as doctors and family attend to his needs at Cairo’s International Medical Centre. Mr Mubarak occupies a large suite with adjacent rooms for visitors, a swimming pool and a gym outfitted with the latest exercise equipment, Al-Watan said. It said Mr Mubarak had been visited by Arab leaders of the Gulf countries of Kuwait, Oman and the UAE.
The account confirmed reports in other domestic newspapers that have shown Mr Mubarak, who is formally under arrest, as far more healthy than he appears in the court room. – (Reuters)
