World / Hosni Mubarak Mubarak Collapses, Can't Breathe: Guards Egyptian ex-despot's health deteriorating By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Jun 5, 2012 12:21 PM CDT Copied In this Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, file photo, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is wheeled into court in Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Mohammed al-Law, File) Hosni Mubarak's life sentence may not be a lengthy one. An official at Mubarak's prison tells the AP that the "health crisis" Mubarak experienced after the verdict wasn't a one-time episode—his health is deteriorating rapidly. Egypt's ex-president has collapsed several times, and has been placed on mechanical ventilation because he is having trouble breathing, the official said. Authorities have turned down Mubarak's request to be tended to by two of his own doctors, but have allowed his son and fellow prisoner Gamal to move to a nearby cell. Familial closeness may not be the best medicine, however; Mubarak's condition apparently worsened after a visit yesterday from his wife, who sobbed at the sight of him. On Sunday, he told an Egyptian newspaper that the country's military rulers had betrayed him. "Egypt has sold me. They want me to die here." (More Hosni Mubarak stories.) Report an error