Former Israeli PM Sharon is critical

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. AP FILE PHOTO

JERUSALEM — The director of the hospital where the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being treated says he is in critical condition and his life is in danger.

Zeev Rotstein of Tel Hashomer hospital said on Thursday that the functioning of “several essential organs” has declined but would not elaborate.

Rotstein says Sharon’s condition is “critical” and his “life is in danger.”

He said Sharon’s family is at his bedside.

The 85-year-old Sharon has been in a coma since 2006 when a devastating stroke incapacitated him at the height of his political power.

Sharon was one of Israel’s most iconic and controversial figures. A prominent hard-line voice over the decades, he was elected prime minister in 2001.