Mubarak gets uniform, prisoner number in jail

Cairo, Jun 5:

, the fallen Pharaoh of

, began his life sentence in a prison hospital here with a freshly assigned prisoner number, a blue uniform that he stubbornly refused to wear, and a visit by his wife.

While Egypt's streets erupted in protest against the "light" sentence awarded to him for ordering the killing of over 800 pro-democracy protesters, the former ruler was moved to the Tora prison in the capital to serve the punishment.

The 84-year-old was issued the regulation blue prison uniform after being taken to a jail that once housed his opponents.

He is still resisting to wear it and is seeking an exception, the official media reported.

The state news agency MENA reported that guards in the prison clicked his official jail photograph and supplied him with his prisoner number.

Mubarak's wife Suzanne Thabet visited her husband for the first time in the Tora Prison Hospital today, accompanied by her daughters-in-law Heidi Rasekh and Khadiga el-Gammal and her son's father-in-law Mahmoud el-Gammal.

The visit was made in line with a decision by Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim to grant all prisoners one exceptional visit in the period between May 26 and June 24 on the occasion of Labor Day.

Mubarak, along with his interior minister Habib el-Adli, was sentenced to life in prison by a court over complicity in killing protesters during the January revolution.

Prison authorities turned down his request to continue receiving treatment from doctors at a military hospital where he was detained while on trial.

The former president, who reportedly has a heart condition, is being kept in the prison's medical wing.

Security officials and state television had reported on Saturday that Mubarak suffered a "health crisis" on arrival by helicopter at the prison after sentencing, and that he was revived with oxygen.

The former strongman broke down in tears and initially refused to leave the helicopter.

PTI