The health of deposed President Hosni Mubarak is unstable and his morale has deteriorated despite his two sons being moved to the same ward of Tora prison, Interior Ministry sources told London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in an article published Wednesday.

Mubarak was sent to the prison after receiving a 25-year sentence on 2 June for complicity in the murder of protesters during the January 2011 uprising that forced him to step down. His sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, are awaiting trial on financial charges.

Mubarak's health has been the subject of much speculation and mixed reports. The same ministry sources denied rumors circulated online that he was in a coma.

A medical team the ministry sent to check on Mubarak in Tora's intensive care unit Tuesday reported that he is having trouble breathing, which results in repeated loss of consciousness that requires him to be place on a respirator, according to Asharq al-Awsat.

The team also said the former leader is suffering from high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation — a heart arrhythmia — but said he does not need to be transferred to another hospital as requested by Mubarak's lawyer and his wife.

The newspaper quoted the sources as saying that Mubarak refuses to receive any medication before consulting his sons, and that he has a compulsive obsession which leads him to believe he is being targeted.

Mubarak's lawyer Farid al-Deeb told media host Mona al-Shazly on Dream TV late Tuesday that the Tora Prison hospital is not equipped to host his ailing client, alleging that his transfer to the prison was not supported by a medical report.

In a phone-in with Shazly, Deputy Chairman of the People’s Assembly Health Committee Hassan al-Brince rebuffed Deeb’s claims. He said the Tora hospital is a LE7-million facility and that Mubarak is receiving quality and expensive medical care.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm