Cairo: Hosni Mubarak was ordered detained for 15 days on Wednesday, winning the ruling army generals a respite from protests by quashing suspicions that they were shielding their former commander from investigation.
Mubarak, driven from presidential office on February 11 by mass demonstrations against his 30-year rule, was taken to a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday with what state media called a "heart crisis". Reports disagree on how serious his illness is.
The public prosecutor had summoned and questioned Mubarak, 82, over the killing of protesters, embezzling of public funds and abuse of power. More than 380 protesters were killed in 18 days of demonstrations that led to Mubarak's downfall.
His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, have also been questioned as part of the probe and ordered detained, state television said.
"Former President Hosni Mubarak was detained for 15 days for investigation," state television reported in a brief headline. Judicial sources confirmed the report.
In his first public comment since stepping down, broadcast on Al Arabiya on Sunday, Mubarak denied wrongdoing.
A security source told Reuters Mubarak was likely to remain for security reasons in detention in Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where he has been in internal exile since quitting.
A source cited by the official news agency MENA said the former president would be moved from the hospital to a place of detention once his health permits, but the site had yet to be determined.
Al Jazeera television reported earlier that an army helicopter had arrived in Sharm to take him to the capital Cairo. A security source told Reuters "the helicopter has left without him because his health is unstable."
State television said Mubarak was admitted to an intensive care unit at the hospital late on Tuesday after a "heart crisis" during questioning.
Half a dozen dark blue state security trucks were parked outside the hospital on Wednesday. A medical source said Mubarak was still there and described his health as "unstable".
Mubarak's sons were taken to a prison on the outskirts of Cairo, joining a list of ex-ministers and officials under investigation and held in the same jail, MENA said.
Gamal, 47, Mubarak's younger son, held a top post in the ruling party. Many Egyptians believed he was being groomed for top office, though both father and son denied any such plan.
"This is a serious step forward in holding the president accountable and ends any suspicion that the state and the military were in cahoots with Mubarak," said Hassan Nafaa, a political scientist and activist for reform.
He said plans for another protest on Friday were on hold to see how swiftly the army and prosecutor moved towards a trial.
Political analyst Fahmy Hueidi said: "The army succumbed to people pressure to bring Mubarak and family to justice."
On Tuesday, soldiers broke up a five-day sit-in at Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Egypt's uprising in January.
Protesters had vowed to keep up the pressure, although many ordinary Egyptians are tired of the protests that have hammered the economy and disrupted their lives.
There were conflicting reports about Mubarak's condition. A state television report said he was in intensive care after a "heart crisis" during questioning. Al Arabiya said he was fit enough to be questioned in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The timing of his health setback prompted scepticism among some protesters about the motives of the army, which has pushed for swift elections to hand over power. The army praised and thanked Mubarak when he left office, but protesters criticised him for ruling by emergency law and widening a rich-poor divide.
"We want our money. We want the thief to be tried," chanted dozens of people near the hospital on Tuesday in the resort where Mubarak spent more and more time before leaving office.
Diplomats say there is no sign the military wants to hold on in government but say it may loom in the background as the nation's self-appointed guardian.
Mubarak has suffered from health problems in recent years and went to Germany for gall bladder surgery in March 2010. There were frequent rumours about his health as he aged, particularly after his last bout of surgery.
Mubarak vowed to die in Egypt when he addressed the country's 80 million people shortly before he stepped down.
After Friday's demonstration, soldiers and police used tasers and batons to try to drive out the protesters after nightfall. Medical sources said 13 men were wounded by gunfire and two died. The army denied using live ammunition.
Angry protesters demanded the army hand power to civilians, but soldiers moved in on Tuesday to end the sit-in. Soldiers with rifles rounded up several young men and pushed them into vans. They gathered up barbed wire used by demonstrators to block the square and dismantled makeshift barriers.
By early evening traffic was flowing through Tahrir, a major junction of roads that was the focus of the protests.
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