CAIRO - Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak was in a comma and relied on a respirator, a hospital source told Xinhua late Tuesday night, denying that he was "clinically died".

The source said that Mubarak is now in intensive care unit.

Meanwhile, Xinhua reporter at the hospital said some policemen in plain clothes were stationing near the hospital, allowing no entrance. Their is currently no official report from the hospital authorities on Mubarak's situation.

Egypt's official MENA news agency had earlier quoted medical sources as saying that "Mubarak's heart stopped beating and he was defibrillated many times but he had not responded."

"Mubarak clinically died upon arrival at Maadi Military Hospital where he was moved from Tora Prison Hospital," according to the earlier MENA report.

Mubarak was moved to the military hospital aboard an ambulance after suffering a stroke.

Mubarak's heart had stopped beating from some time in Tora Prison in southern the Egyptian capital, and he was treated by electric shock, a prison source said.

The 84-year-old has suffered shortness of breath and severe depression since he was moved to the prison to serve his life term.