Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Is "Clinically Dead"

Egypt’s state news agency MENA reports former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is “clinically dead.”

Egypt’s state-run news agency reports that doctors have declared former president Hosni Mubarak clinically dead after suffering a stroke in a prison hospital. Security sources and his lawyer say he is still alive, however.

Update at 5:53 p.m. ET: Reuters now cites security sources as saying Mubarak is not dead but is unconscious and on a respirator.

It’s possible that Mubarak could be brain dead but being kept alive mechanically.

Update at 5:43 p.m. ET: Despite the reports that resuscitation efforts had failed, Mubarak’s lawyer Farid El-Deeb told Al-Hayat television channel that he is still alive and that efforts to revive him are beginning to have some effect, Ahram Online reports.

The news outlet adds that “it is understood” that Mubarak has been suffering from cancer and heart problems.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison June 2 for the killing of pro-democracy demonstrators last year during the “Arab Spring” uprising.