It would be an inglorious transition for a leader who ruled Egypt with an iron hand occupying the fabled 'Qasr El Qobba', the sprawling presidential palace in Cairo for nearly 30 years, to the infamous Tora prison in southern Cairo.
84-year-old Mubarak has been held in the past few months in a presidential suite in a hospital in the outskirts of Cairo and now he moves to the jail where his sons and members of his toppled regime are held.
He was sentenced to life in prison by a judge who convicted him of complicity in the murder of protesters during the Spring uprising that ousted him last year.
Elevated to presidency after Islamic radicals assassinated his predecessor Anwar Sadat in 1981, Mubarak steered the most prominent Arab nation through a turmoil that swept the Middle East in the form of wars, terrorism and religious extremism.
Mubarak survived six assassination attempts during his rule but could not survive the deluge of unprecedented street protests that brought him down.
Until the outbreak of the grassroots uprising on January 25 last year, Mubarak seemed insurmountable as President of the most populous nation in the Arab world.
Mubarak was lucky to escape when Sadat was assassinated by Islamic radicals at a military parade in Cairo and has survived at least six assassination attempts since then.
The narrowest being in 1995 shortly after his arrival in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to attend an African summit.
In the end, however, he was consumed by people's anger and fury that lasted 18 days. (More)
