CAIRO: Egypt's public prosecutor ordered former president Hosni Mubarak be moved back to prison on Monday, saying an improvement in his health meant he no longer needed to stay in a military hospital.

Mubarak, sentenced to life in prison over the killing of protesters in the uprising that ended his rule, was moved from the medical wing of Tora prison to a hospital last month following reports of a deterioration in his health.

Mubarak was moved from prison to a military hospital in June after a health crisis. At the time, senior officers and military sources gave various accounts of the 84-year-old's condition, including that he was in a coma and on life support.

Adel al-Saeed, the assistant prosecutor and spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said a medical committee formed to review Mubarak's condition had decided his health was stable enough that he did not need advanced hospital care.

Sentenced on June 2 for his failure to protect demonstrators, Mubarak has been portrayed as being in poor health by officials for the past year. He was wheeled in to court during his trial on a hospital stretcher.

Many Egyptians have been sceptical. Others suspect fellow officers, who pushed him aside to appease the protesters, of conniving to give him a more comfortable confinement. AGENCIES