Conflicting reports on Mubaraks death amid power crisis

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Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was on life support after suffering a stroke in prison Tuesday, deepening the country's uncertainty just as a potentially explosive fight opened over who will succeed him.

As some medical sources confirmed the ousted President’s death, two close sources to Reuters said that that Mubarak is not “clinically dead” yet, but is on life support.

The 84-year-old Mubarak suffered a "fast deterioration of his health" and his heart stopped beating, the state news agency MENA and security officials said. He was revived by defibrillation but then had a stroke and was moved from Torah Prison to a military hospital in Cairo.

MENA initially reported he was "clinically dead" upon arrival, but a security official said he was put on life support. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Maj. Gen. Mohsen el-Fangari, a member of the ruling military council, told the Al-Shorouk newspaper website that Mubarak was in a "very critical condition," but denied he was dead. Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, came to the hospital, where Mubarak was in an intensive care unit, another security official said.

It was reporter earlier in the night that Mubarak had suffered cardiac arrest, and was resuscitated. Read more here.

The developments came amid threats of new unrest and political power struggles, 16 months after Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising demanding democracy.

French President Francois Holland said on Wednesday from the sidelines of the G20 conference at Los Capos Mexico, that it was probably the end of Mubarak.

He went on to add that he has no further information on the subject.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Wednesday that the military council in Egypt must transfer power to a civil government, according to a source inside the United Nations. The source stressed on Ban’s persistence on a peaceful transition of power in Egypt, one that would meet the demands of the Egyptian people and the International Community.

This as thousands of people gathered Tuesday in Tahrir square to protest what they called "constitutional coup" of the ruling military council, which granted itself under a constitutional declaration of a complementary Sunday evening broad powers allow itself to remain in power until after the election of a new President in Egypt.

AP/REUTERS/LBCI