Two Anniversaries in Egypt

Besides being the first day of summer, today also marked a couple of landmark anniversaries in Egypt: It was the birthday of the late,  great Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, who died at only 47, but it is also the tenth anniversary of the mysterious death of the popular Egyptian actress Soad Hosny, who was at one time reputedly romantically linked to Hafez. Hosny died in a fall from her apartment window in London, and there have long been rumors that it was no accident; her diaries and memoirs reportedly disappeared, and there were rumored links to Egyptian intelligence. (If it sounds surprisingly similar to the tale of Ashraf Marwan, the Nasser son-in-law who fell, jumped, or was pushed from his balcony in London in 2007, others have noted the resemblance.   Both Egyptian intelligence and Mossad have been blamed for that one. (Oh, and his memoirs, which he'd been working on, were never found, either.)

Blogger Zeinobia recently noted that there is talk of investigating Soad Hosny's death in the wake of the fall of the powerful Safwat al-Sharif. If so, we might gain some insight into some of the murkier moments in the modern Middle East.

An Egyptian Ambassador to London and a secretary to Nasser's Vice President Abdel Hakim Amer also died mysteriously in London. Egyptians living there really need to exercise care around windows and balconies, at least until we see how much has changed since the revolution.

New Israeli Book on Ashraf Marwan Case

We've touched on the Ashraf Marwan story several times: Egyptian public figure and businessman, head of Egypt's defense industry for many years, son-in-law of Nasser, and long rumored to have been a Mossad informant who provided the crucial tip in the 1973 war, and then died in a mysterious fall from his London balcony in 2007. This past summer, a British inquest ruled out suicide but also said there was no evidence he was murdered. His widow Mona Nasser blames Israel for his death.

NOw there's a new book by an Israeli academic which concludes that he was not a double agent and blames Egypt rather than Israel for his mysterious death. Since the book is in Hebrew I can't judge it, and perhaps it's disinformation, but the linked Ha'aretz article adds to the confusion over Marwan.

The Ashraf Marwan Verdict: "Open Verdict"

The British Coroner's Inquest into the 2007 death of Ashraf Marwan (see my post yesterday for the background) is in, and it is an "Open Verdict," which seems to be British for Damned if We Know. British press reports say the coroner "ruled out any suggestion" of suicide but found "absolutely no evidence" that he was murdered. So if he didn't jump and there's no proof he was pushed, why did he go off the balcony?

Mona Nasser, Marwan's widow and a daughter of Gamal Abdel Nasser, was quoted as saying, "The truth will come out. They are still discovering things about Tutankhamun." Well, yes, but that could mean waioting a long time. (And Zahi Hawass would get the credit.)

The Daily Mail has some direct quotes from the coroner:

The Coroner noted that the balcony wall was just 3ft (1.04m) high and said it was 'more than possible' that Dr Marwan might have leant forward and fallen over it.

Dr Dolman continued : 'How did Mr Marwan leave the balcony and end up on the ground?

'There are three possibilities: Was he pushed? Did he jump or did he fall?'

He said that the evidence was inconclusive and the conclusion that Dr Marwan had leaned and fallen would be mere speculation.

Dr Dolman continued: 'It is possible that a third party got into the flat and been threatening him forcing him over, that too is a speculation.

'There is absolutely no evidence to allow me even to consider the verdict of suicide.

'The is also absolutely no evidence on which I can base the verdict of unlawful killing. We simply don't know the facts in spite of careful investigation.'

Confused yet? Of course, the disappearance of his memoirs, among other mysteries, suggests foul play, but clearly, whoever did it it left few clues. It may indeed take a very long time, if ever, for the real story to emerge.

The Ashraf Marwan Case Revisited: Still Murky

I dealt with the mysteries of the Ashraf Marwan case in passing last year, as an aside in an obituary of Mossad head Meir Amit, but now a British inquest has been reexamining the case, though reportedly its findings, due perhaps tomorrow, will be inclonclusive. This has been one of the most mysterious cloak-and-dagger tales to come out of the Middle East, worthy of a spy thriller, involving the mysterious death of an Egyptian billionaire who was Nasser's son in law, and may also have been either Mossad's greatest coup or an Egyptian double agent, or perhaps just an Egyptian agent.

For background, here's his Wikipedia bio, and here's The New York Times' account of his death in 2007. But to summarize: Ashraf Marwan was an Egyprian businessman who in the 1960s married Mona Abdel Nasser, daughter of President Gamal Abdel Nasser. This opened, as might be expected, opportunities for advancement. Marwan became a trusted aide to Anwar Sadat during the latter's presidency, and remained prominent in the Mubarak years. During the 1980s, when I was covering the Egyptian defense industry, he headed the Arab Organization for Industrialization, one of its main umbrella groups. His business dealings, which included some partnerships with Muhammad Fayed, helped make him a billionaire.

What else he was remains a matter of debate. For years, there has been speculation about who the "special source" was who informed Israel on the eve of the October 1973 war that an attack was imminent. Although surprise was still largely achieved, the warning prevented a complete surprise, and Israeli accounts always described the source as a very senior Arab figure. From the 1990s onward Israeli leaks suggested it was Marwan. But even when such allegations appeared in public, Marwan contnued to enjoy good relations with the Egyptian government, leading some Israelis to suspect he had actually been an Egyptian double agent. The fact that Israel was led to believe the attack would come at dusk rather than at midday was noted as suggesting the source did not tell all he knew.

On June 27, 2007, Marwan fell to his death from the fifth floor balcony of his London apartment. The circumstances were suspicious from the start, and the family has always insisted he was not suicidal; in fact, he was preparing to fly to the United States. In addition, the memoir he had been writing at the time of his death disappeared at the time; and the police could not locate the shoes he was wearing when he fell. There were allegations two men had been seen with him. (The fact that at least three other prominent Egyptian figures have died in London falls from balconies adds to the conspiracy theories.)

But sometimes conspiracies are not just theories, and finally the British decided on a new coroner's inquest int he case. The Ha'aretz story by Yossi Melman takes for granted that he was Mossad's source for the start of the 1973 war; it leaves open whether he was a double agent also working for Egypt. The Guardian talks to Mona Nasser about her husband; she blames Mossad. An account of the hearings in The Daily Telegraph notes that when he died President Mubarak said he had performed patriotic services that could not yet be revealed. And as the Wikipedia bio notes, his funeral in Cairo was attended by Gamal Mubarak and Omar Suleiman and presided over by the Sheikh al-Azhar: not how you send off an enemy spy.

The conclusions will no doubt be inconclusive. But it's still a fascinating tale.

Ex-Mossad Chief Meir Amit Dies at 88

Before disappearing for the weekend, a few comments on the passing of Meir Amit, who has died at age 88. The Haaretz article linked to offers most of the basics, though the Jerusalem Post obit also is worth reading. (Image at left from Wikipedia.)

Amit was one of the legendary figures in Mossad, which has spent a lot of time cultivating its legend. In his day of course the head of Mossad was never identified publicly during his tenure; it was a far cry from today, when Mossad has not only a website, but an English language webpage of its own with a message from Director Meir Dagan, complete with a picture. "M" would never approve. (Of course the real model for James Bond's "M", the SIS' "C," is also now a public figure. At least he has an appropriate James Bond name, Sir John McLeod Scarlett.) The Mossad chief was colloquially known as the meimouneh, roughly, the "responsible one" or "boss".

Amit was head of Military Intelligence when he was named head of Mossad in 1963; for a while he held both jobs at the same time, an unprecedented and unrepeated factoid. He succeeded the famous Isser Harel, who ran Mossad from 1952 until 1963 and was best known for the Eichmann capture, among other things. Amit, most notably, was the head of Mossad during the 1967 war.

Both linked Israeli obits note that some of his services to Israel are still classified. They do note that he ran Eli Cohen, a famous Israeli spy in Syria ultimately hanged by the Syrians. He also arranged the defection of an Iraqi Christian pilot to Israel, bringing his then-unseen-in-the west MiG-21 Fishbed to Israel intact.

Specifics aside, Amit has a reputation as a man who worked up a significant human intelligence (HUMINT) capability in the Arab world, providing the information needed for the pre-emptive strike of June 5, 1967, which destroyed the Arab Air Forces. At least some of his HUMINT network presumably were never identified, and he may have been behind the recruitments of many senior persons who long remained in senior positions in the Arab world. As is perhaps appropriate in an obituary of a spy chief, it's hard to know for sure. (If, as some have claimed, Nasser's son-in-law Ashraf Marwan was the source for tipping off Israel about the 1973 war, one wonders if he was recruited in Amit's day. But the Marwan story is more muddled than anything John Le Carré ever come up with: the Wikipedia entry is a reasonable recapitulation of all the claims and counterclaims. And there's an odd note about his 2007 death, falling from the balcony of his London apartment:

One witness, who was on the third floor of a nearby building, told police that he saw two men "wearing suits and of Mediterranean appearance" appear on the balcony moments after Marwan's fall, look down, and then return inside the apartment. Police are also reported to have lost Marwan's shoes, which could hold clues on whether or not Marwan himself jumped from the balcony.^[6]
Marwan is the fourth Egyptian of note to die in London in a similar way. The others, all of whom were involved in Egyptian politics between 1966 and 1971, are: Suad Hosni, the actress; Al-Leithy Nassif, the Egyptian ambassador to Britain; and Ali Shafeek, secretary in the office of former Egyptian Vice President Abdel Hakim Amer.

(Moral: If you're an Egyptian with vaguely spooky ties, stay off London balconies.)
Meir Amit may never have had anything to do with Ashraf Marwan, who may have had no connection with Israel and in the 1980s ran Egypt's defense industry. But Amit moved comfortably in the shadowy world of deep-cover agents in Arab countries, and reportedly had highly placed agents in several Arab capitals. After Harel himself, he is probably more responsible than any later Mossad chief for the high (perhaps overblown) reputation the agency has long enjoyed, not least in the Arab world, where it is seen as the prime mover behind everything.

It's always hard to know what to say when somebody whose accomplishments are still classified passes away. A certain throat clearing and a note that somebody once quite important for reasons that may not be fully known for decades has passed on, may be the best response.
By the way: in earlier obituary for Nabawi Isma‘il I noted that:

So far, by the way, the label "obituaries" on this blog brings up only Ja‘far Numeiri and Nabawi Isma‘il. I hope eventually to find someone I can say unreservedly good things about, but not this time.

Since that time, my "obituaries" label have been for posts about Robert S. McNamara and now, Meir Amit. Maybe you just don't get a name in the Middle East if there's nothing ambiguous about your career, but I keep hoping.
UPDATE: See Following Post on Walter Cronkite. I hope I didn't jinx him. (Oh: good. He died before I posted this.)