A day in the life of Hosni Mubarak behind bars
30 May 2012
Since the toppling of the regime following the January 25 revolution, former President Hosni Mubarak’s life behind bars has been talk of the town ─ yet no one knew for certain what his life was like in his prison cell. It was only when an Egyptian independent newspaper published a detailed report of Mubarak’s taken on current events a clearer image emerged.
The Egyptian daily independent al-Watan ran a story about Mubarak’s life in jail and his reactions to developments in the Egyptian political scene. The information, supported by pictures and documents, were provided by someone described as close to the former president.
According to the report, a crew of five nurses, who change shifts every eight hours, tend to Mubarak at the International Medical Center, where he is detained. The nurses are not allowed to go into his suite with their cell phones and even the doctors are carefully searched before being allowed in. These strict measures are taken to prevent any leaks.
When Mubarak’s trial began, the former president asked his son Alaa’s wife to let his grandson Omar to spend the night with him. The mother refused and said she did not think it was safe for the boy to stay at the medical center. At that point, the former president got furious and his wife Suzanne interfered to convince her daughter-in-law to grant Mubarak his request. When she finally agreed, Mubarak was so happy that he slept at four in the morning even though he usually sleeps at 10.
One of the most striking incidents mentioned in the report was when a nurse was talking to her co-worker in a loud voice and the former president’s wife Suzanne told her, “If you raise your voice again, I will chop off your head.” The nurse replied, “I haven’t done anything wrong for you to threaten me like this.” Suzanne was infuriated at the nurse talking back and slapped her on the face. The nurse started screaming and Mubarak’s guards hurried to investigate the matter. After they checked, one of the officers told Suzanne, “Please calm down, Madam. Don’t forget that things are not the way they were before.”
The report added that Mubarak kept his daily habit of reading the official newspapers al-Ahram and al-Akhbar and watching state TV and sometimes Al Arabiya News Channel to follow what is happening in Syria, Libya, and Yemen.
He is reported to have gotten depressed watching revolutions in other Arab countries and would say, “The U.S. is behind all those revolutions.”
When his wife was not visiting him, Mubarak would spend the day talking to the nurses, doctors, and guards, asking them about how things are in Egypt and whether the army is in control and if the police are back to the streets. He also used to ask whether all Egyptians hate him or some of them still love him.
Mubarak’s former intelligence chief and vice president Omar Suleiman visited him two days before he was excluded from the presidential race. They both talked about the political situation in Egypt and exchanged their views on the future of the country. Mubarak seemed very happy to see Suleiman.
On October 20, Mubarak threw a fit when he was watching TV and saw footage of the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. That day, he cried nonstop and looked frightened.
Mubarak followed the parliamentary elections and was astonished at the number of Egyptians who went to vote.
“Where did they all come from?” he asked. “
It must be the 500-pound fine that drove them to go.” He also speculated that the Muslim Brotherhood will not get more the 80 seats they received before in the 2005 elections and was stunned to see them sweep to victory.
There was news that also brought him happiness. For example, he was thrilled to learn that former International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed al-Baradei had withdrawn from the presidential elections.
He also laughed heartily when he watched the sessions of Islamist-dominated parliament and said “All those beards? Are we in Egypt or Afghanistan? They will ruin the country.”
He also used to make fun of all presidential candidates and his most memorable comment was, “So this is why Egyptians had a revolution? They are not even capable of running a cigarette kiosk.”
Mubarak saw all the candidates as unfit and especially made fun of former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. “He is so full of himself,” he was reported to have said. The only one he admired was his former Civil Aviation Minister and last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.
When clashes between the army and Copts took place in October, Mubarak was watching TV with his brother-in-law Mounir Thabet. Thabet told him that Copts are angry because Salafis destroyed three churches and no action was taken against them and that some infiltrators provoked the army into reacting violently.
“Since when do officers kill when they get angry,” Mubarak asked Thabet. “Something is fishy. Plus, Christians have always been peaceful people and never acted like this.”
He also asked how the interior ministry had not interfered and one senior army officer who was also there replied that the ministry has become very weak and is “even incapable of catching petty thieves.”
“Looks like the interior minister is a sissy,” Mubarak said. “Had it been Habib al-Adly, he would have finished the whole business in three minutes.”
The suite in which Mubarak is staying is located on the fifth floor of the International Medical Center and is one of the center’s best. The suite is made up of two main suites, each 250 square meters.
Attached to the suite are five fully-furnished rooms for guests who sleep over. There is also a fully-equipped conference room in addition to a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, and sauna. A state of the art operation theatre is also attached to suite and is solely dedicated to him in cases of emergency. The room is considered one of the world’s most advanced.