Authorities agree to shift Mubarak's eldest son close to him

84-year-old Mubarak had requested his eldest son Alaa be moved close to him after the authorities last week agreed to a similar request by him to have his youngest son Gamal brought next to him in Tora prison hospital here.

"The consent (in this regard) has been approved today," Arabic language Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported today.

The former dictator's younger son Gamal had been moved to a ward next to the hospital to allow him to monitor his father in the intensive care unit following the recommendation of the medical report of the doctors caring for the jailed leader.

The two sons are being held at Torah prison awaiting trial on insider trading charges.

Meanwhile, local media reported that Mubarak's heart had stopped beating twice, prompting doctors to use a defibrillator. However, an Interior Ministry official said his conditional was stable but critical.

Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, and their two daughters-in-law visited him in prison yesterday after rumours circulated that the former Egyptian strongman had died. They were granted special permission to visit him to quash rumours of his death.

According to prison officials, Mubarak was suffering from breathing difficulties, nervous breakdown and depression after being sentenced to life imprisonment on June 2 for complicity in the killing of protesters demonstrating against his 30-year rule last year.

The prison officials had said that Mubarak had collapsed several times.