CAIRO — The health of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak deteriorated sharply today, three days after a court sentenced him to life imprisonment in connection to killing of protesters, a security official said.

The official at Cairo’s Torah prison said that Mubarak collapsed several times and that he was placed on mechanical ventilation after having difficulty breathing. He says the ousted president’s condition worsened after a visit by his wife and former first lady Suzanne Mubarak on Monday, who sobbed and cried after seeing Mubarak in a prison blue suit.

Prison authorities turned down a request by Mubarak to bring two of his personal doctors to oversee his condition, the official said. However, they agreed to transfer his son Gamal, also a prisoner, to a nearby cell to be close to him.

Mubarak was sentenced Saturday for failing to stop killings of protesters in the 2011 uprising.