No proof Mubarak has cancer, says newspaper

CAIRO (AFP) - There is no proof that Hosni Mubarak has cancer, the Al-Ahram newspaper said on Saturday, contradicting lawyers of the ousted Egyptian president who is on trial on charges of corruption and the murder of hundreds of demonstrators.

"All medical examinations show that Mubarak does not have cancer," the pro-government daily said.

Mubarak's lawyer Farid al-Deeb had claimed that the ex-president suffers from stomach cancer and went into a coma last month, which the hospital treating him denied.

"The last medical report on the health of former president Hosni Mubarak has revealed that he suffered from kidney failure and heart problems," said Al-Ahram, citing a source at the International Medical Centre, a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo where Mubarak is being treated.

The paper cited the same source as saying that 83-year-old Mubarak is due to be tested again in the next few days, which will definitively resolve the claim.

In March 2010, Mubarak underwent surgery in Germany to remove his gall bladder and a polyp.

According to the daily, Yasser Abdelkader, the oncologist treating Mubarak, had contacted the doctor who treated the former leader in Germany for a copy of his medical records.

Mubarak resigned on February 11 after three-decades of autocratic rule following a popular uprising in which 846 people were killed. He is on trial for corruption and ordering security forces to fire on demonstrators.

© 2011 AFP