Mubarak: To Be or Not to Be?

Increasingly conflicting reports have emerged regarding the health of Egypt's former President, Hosni Mubarak, who, has been in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since reportedly suffering a heart attack in April.

The lawyer of the former leader, who is under detention and is expected to undergo trial next month if his health ameliorates, said Mubarak had slipped into full coma. Worried about the former president's "serious" condition his lawyer was said to be rushing to the hospital where the leader is being treated.

However, the allegation was almost straightaway denied by doctors treating him at the very same hospital.

Other reports that have since then emerged insist that Mubarak has now regained consciousness after lapsing into a coma, according to a top hospital official, CNN has said.

Mohamed Fathalla, the head of the Sharm el-Sheikh facility said that Mubarak had recovered.

"He is now stable after suffering a coma that did not last long," CNN quoted Fathalla as saying.

Mubarak has been in a Sharm el-Sheikh hospital since April. He had suffered a heart attack during interrogation over fraud and the killing of pro-democracy protesters during the uprising which ousted him in February this year.

After being ousted during the revolution that started in January, he now faces charges of ordering police to kill anti-government protesters during the uprising that forced him from office in February. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

Egyptian prosecutors have said Mubarak has suffered from depression, fatigue, repeated irregular heartbeats, low blood pressure that could lead to fainting and an increased risk of heart attack, a claim that many say is just another attempt by the leader to try and escape trial.

Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal have both been remanded in custody at Tora Prison in Cairo, and are also scheduled to face trial next month.