Mubarak ?Clinically Dead?: Egyptian State Media

Hosni Mubarak has been declared “clinically dead” following his transfer to a military hospital from prison after he suffered a stroke and underwent a defibrillation.

However, there is some confusion as to whether he has died or is just near death.

The state-controlled MENA news agency reported that “his heart had stopped beating and did not respond to defibrillation.

Reportedly, the news of Mubarak’s would-be death sparked such intense interest in Egypt that MENA’s website crashed.

Earlier this month, the former president of Egypt was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the deaths of hundreds of protesters killed by state security forces during uprisings last year, which soon led to his downfall.

It is unclear how Mubarak’s passing will affect the contentious elections in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi claimed he won. His opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, a former member of Mubarak’s regime, insisted he won the poll.

However, whoever actually won, their power may be severely curtailed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the military organization that is apparently seeking to consolidate its hold over the country. After a court ordered the dissolution of parliament, SCAF released a constitutional declaration awarding itself legislative power.

Mursi’s supporters have already assembled in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest what they see as an illegal bid by the army to retain its influence and power.

Mursi had vowed to prosecute Mubarak and his top aides if he was elected.

The dissolution of the parliament is null and void, the military council must leave, and now legitimacy lies with the people who elected Mursi, said Abdel Basset Mohieddine, a Brotherhood supporter who was at the protest.

The SCAF had promised to transfer power to the new president by July 1.

Mubarak ruled Egypt for thirty years beginning in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat.