Former President Hosni Mubarak could face the death penalty if he is convicted of crimes he is charged with, according to Egypt's new justice minister, Mohammed el-Guindi.

Mubarak fled from power on February 11 after 18 days of sustained protests by people venting years of anger and frustration at Mubarak's authoritarian regime and its laws and policies. In response, Mubarak ordered more than one crackdown and rounds of arrests, resulting in the deaths of 846 protesters.

The justice minister said that Mubarak would be questioned extensively in the next few days at Sharm el-Sheikh Hospital, where he is resting after being taken there to treat heart problems. Mubarak, 82, had served as leader of his country for more than 30 years.

Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, would also be investigated, el-Guindi said.

In other news from Egypt:

• The Muslim Brotherhood, considered by observers to the most potent political force in the newly politically free Egypt, confirmed that it would not run a candidate for president but would field candidates in up to 50 percent of the parliamentary seats on offer in the September elections. The group won 20 percent of seats in the 2005 election but was shut out in the 2010 election.
• A large crowd of workers, numbering in the thousands, returned to Tahrir Square, in the heart of Cairo, to call for an increase in the minimum wage. The crowd was nowhere near as large as the ones seen during the uprising three months ago, but the messages included protests against a recently enacted law that puts limits on strikes and demonstrations.
• The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which supplanted Mubarak and his government, warned against religion-based violence, after a growing number of Christian-Muslim clashes in recent weeks.