Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak has been deemed well enough to return to his prison cell after more than a month in hospital.

Mubarak, sentenced to life in prison over the killing of protesters in the uprising that ended his rule, was moved from the medical wing of Tora prison to a hospital last month following reports of a deterioration in his health.

At the time, senior officers and military sources gave various accounts of the 84-year-old's condition, including that he was in a coma and on life support.

However, Adel al-Saeed, the assistant prosecutor and spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said a medical committee formed to review Mubarak's condition had decided his health was stable enough that he did not need advanced hospital care.

Many Egyptians are sceptical while others suspect fellow officers of conniving to give him a more comfortable confinement.