Mubarak not ill, chief doctor says

CAIRO — Egypt’s chief forensic doctor told a state-run newspaper in an interview published Saturday that Hosni Mubarak has never suffered a stroke and that he is not in critical condition, contradicting earlier medical reports that the former president’s health was deteriorating.

For months, there have been conflicting reports about the health of the 84-year-old Mubarak, who was sentenced in June to life in prison for failing to stop the killings of hundreds of protesters during last year’s uprising. He is the first Arab president to serve a prison sentence.

While he was in power, Mubarak’s health was treated almost as a state secret. But since his ouster some 20 months ago, Mubarak’s supporters have released details of his purportedly failing health in what critics say is an attempt to curry sympathy from the public and appeal for leniency from the courts.

Chief forensic doctor Ihsan Kameel Gorgy told the Al-Ahram daily that he oversaw two checkups of Mubarak, who had only low blood pressure and dizziness from standing up too quickly and has never suffered a stroke.