The officials' remarks were made to Ahram Online as news was spreading across social media sites suggesting that the 85-year-old deposed head of state was "on his way."

"His overall condition is very bad for sure, but I cannot confirm that this means he is on his death bed," said one official.

The other official went further: "We were informed that he is in very bad shape, but we were not asked to make any preparations," alluding to a possible burial.

The preparations that are being made, both officials said, are to get Mubarak out of the intensive care unit in Tora Prison Hospital to a military hospital in the next 48 hours where he could be checked by foreign doctors called up by the Mubarak family directly after having secured the agreement of concerned decision-making authorities.

Mubarak arrived to Tora Prison Hospital 2 June after having been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of peaceful demonstrators during the early days of the January 25 Revolution.

Since he was put under custody last summer for interrogation, Mubarak, unlike his two sons — who were acquitted by the same court — and top aides — partially acquitted and partially sentenced to life — was kept in a highly equipped and highly secured hospital out of Cairo.

Mubarak's days may or may not be numbered, according to the two officials who spoke to Ahram Online. "He is an old and ailing man; he is certainly very depressed to have ended this way, but life and death are in the hands of God".

The decision to transfer Mubarak to a military hospital has already been taken, the two officials said. It is now a matter of timing, they said, in order to avoid further agitating public sentiment already shocked by the court decision to acquit the assistants to Mubarak's former interior minister, who were charged with killing peaceful protesters in the early days of the revolution.