Volkhard Windfuhr [read his biography here], Cairo correspondent for Der Spiegel (German weekly magazine), said in an interview with al-Akhbār that he had sensed a change in former President Husnī Mubārak since 2004.

In 2002, Windfuhr started to sense anxiety and tension in the community close to the President, different from the atmosphere before. Then in 2004, he sensed a change in the President himself; he took more time to answer questions and he did not seem like himself.