Hosni Mubarak
Hosni MubarakReuters

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak suffered an “emotional breakdown” in prison on Tuesday, a senior interior ministry official said.

The ailing 84-year-old's “health deteriorated while in prison,” the official told AFP, without describing the nature of the breakdown.

“Doctors from the police hospital have been called to treat him, along with the prison doctors after he suffered an emotional breakdown,” a security official told AFP.

The former leader's lawyer, Yasser Bahr, confirmed that Mubarak “had an emotional crisis that affected his general health.”

According to the report, Mubarak's son, Gamal, who is in the same prison compound, has been moved to be closer to his father.

On Saturday, Mubarak and his interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison over the killing of protesters during last year's uprising.

Until the ruling, Mubarak was held at a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo, and according to media reports was enjoying comfortable surroundings.

Once flown to Tora prison on Cairo's outskirts on Saturday, Mubarak refused to disembark from the helicopter that brought him to the prison and broke into tears upon his arrival. He reportedly suffered a heart attack upon his arrival at the prison.

Egypt’s chief prosecutor has appealed the life sentence handed down to Mubarak, saying should be sentenced to death for killing demonstrators.

The appeal automatically included asking for a new verdict for Mubarak’s two sons and six security officers who were acquitted.

The life sentence handed triggered mass protests by tens of thousands of Egyptians who wanted nothing less than the death penalty.

Israel has reportedly intensified security on its border with Egypt after the verdicts were issued in the trial.