Suzanne Mubarak 'wept prostrate on presidential palace floor'
London Times reveals details of new book by former head of Egyptian television Abdel Latif el-Menawy describing final hours of Mubarak's regime, including how Suzanne Mubarak delayed resignation for over an hour
A new book that is set to be published next week reveals former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's final hours in power and the drama and chaos at the presidential palace at the height of the revolution.
Insider accounts reveal that Suzanne Mubarak, the wife who was always at Mubarak's side, broke down at the presidential palace where she was found by the guards prostrate on the floor and inconsolable with grief, surrounded by the trinkets and records of her lifetime as her two sons, Gamal and Alaa, waited at the airport.
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Details of the book written by former head of Egyptian television Abdel Latif el-Menawy, which were published on Wednesday in the London Times newspaper reveal that Egypt's first lady kept the guards waiting for over an hour.
The Mubarak family in happier days (Photo: AFP)
El-Menawy, who played a key role in persuading Mubarak to quit, and in drafting his farewell speech, said the guards had to pick up the former president's wife and carry her round the house as she collected the few possessions she could not bear to part with.
"In her grief she kept repeating the same line, over and over, 'They had a reason . . .' When she had composed herself enough, she turned to the guards and asked in a panic, 'Do you think they can get in here? Please, don't let them come here! Please, don't let them destroy it, please. Look, you can stay here, stay in the villa . . . please, protect it!' "
The Times revealed that all that time Menaway was waiting in his office for the order to broadcast the tape that would announce the president's resignation. "Though no one knew it at the time, the whole country was waiting for Suzanne Mubarak as she wept in her empty palace."
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