Mubarak may go to German hospital for “prolonged health check”: report

The German newspaper Der Spiegel is reporting that the U.S. government has devised a plan for the president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak to exit the country gracefully by going to a hospital in Germany to seek medical treatment and a “prolonged health check.”

The news comes as violent protests against Mubarak and his regime enters its fourteenth day.

There have been repeated rumors that Mubarak has cancer. In the spring of last year, he had his gallbladder and an intestinal polyp removed in the Heidelberg University Clinic.

A luxury clinic in the southwestern town of Buhl, near Baden-Baden, is reportedly where the 82-year-old Mubarak would move to.

Former Ukrainian President Vickor Yushchenko and former Russian Economics Minister German Gref have been treated there, Spiegel stated.

The New York Times reported that over the weekend that the US government officials and Egyptian military officials held secret talks regarding this topic.

Mubarak is currently living in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in a holiday villa.

German politicians are reportedly in favor of allowing Mubarak to relocate there if it brings peace to Egypt.

We need a peaceful transition in Egypt. If Germany can make a constructive contribution in an international framework, we should receive Hosni Mubarak -- if he wants that, said Andreas Schockenhoff, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

Elke Hof, security policy spokeswoman for the Free Democratic Party, the junior coalition partner to the CDU, said: I would welcome an early departure by Mubarak if this can contribute to stabilizing the situation in Egypt.