Ashraf Marwan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ashraf Marwan

Ashraf Marwan ( Arabic أشرف مروان, DMG Ašraf Marwān ; * February 2, 1944 in Cairo ; † June 27, 2007 in London ) was a senior Egyptian official, businessman, arms dealer, son-in-law of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Israeli spy who warned Israel about the Yom Kippur War .

Life

Marwan came from a distinguished family: his grandfather was head of the Sharia courts and his father was a general of the Republican Guard. Marwan graduated from Cairo University in chemical engineering in 1965 and then did military service. In 1966 he married President Nasser's daughter Mona, against the resistance of Nasser, who even after the wedding was hostile to his son-in-law, as he suspected that he had married mainly out of ambition.

From 1968 Marwan worked for the presidential office under the minister responsible for security Sami Sharaf. A stay in London, where he wanted to continue his studies, was broken off by order of Nasser, when he heard news of Marwan's lavish lifestyle. Marwan worked again in Cairo under Sharaf and continued to do so after Nasser's death in 1970 under President Anwar al-Sadat . For Sadat, Marwan's employment demonstrated the support of his predecessor's family. After Marwan was involved in the crackdown on a coup by old Nasser supporters - including Sharaf - in May 1971, he succeeded Sharaf and Sadat's envoy for relations with neighbors Libya and Saudi Arabia, which he successfully cultivated. Among other things, he was responsible for supplying the Egyptian army with Mirage-5 fighter jets over Libya, which at the time could not be obtained directly from France due to an embargo.

spy

At the same time he had been an Israeli spy since 1969, as became publicly known in early 2003 (code name Engel ). He was one of the most valuable spies the Mossad ever had. When Egypt planned to retake Sinai, Marwan provided the Israelis with detailed war plans, information about armament, and talks between Sadat and other Arab leaders and the Soviets. After having warned several times of an impending attack on Israel (in April and May 1973, each of which resulted in only small mobilization measures by the Israeli reserve), the Israeli intelligence service was unsure how to proceed with a warning from Marwan that the Egyptian attack will take place on the highest public holiday of Yom Kippur (October 6, 1973). The warning reached the Israeli government on October 5th, which was too short to make sufficient preparations, but on the other hand prevented a complete surprise. He also provided the Israelis with information from the immediate vicinity of Sadat during the subsequent peace negotiations.

In 1974 he became secretary in the Foreign Ministry and was even temporarily under discussion as a candidate for the office of Foreign Minister. But there were also critics who accused him of using his position at Sadat for personal gain. In 1976 he left the presidential office and became president of the Arab Organization for Industrialization armaments complex until he lost this post in 1978. After the assassination attempt on Sadat in 1981, he returned to London, where he lived as a wealthy businessman. He had contacts with the arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi and the owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed . He invested worldwide in real estate (including a five-star hotel on Mallorca), in energy companies, in the clothing company Austen Reed and at times held three percent of the Chelsea football club. At the time of his death, he was trying to introduce recycling in Egypt.

In 2003, his identity as an Israeli spy was exposed when Ahron Bregman , a historian at Kings College London, accused him of being a double agent. Bregman's source was information from Israeli General Eli Zeira, who led the military reconnaissance prior to the Yom Kippur War and was subsequently dismissed for failure. In the book about his view of the Yom Kippur War, Myth versus Reality, Zeira mentioned an Egyptian double agent who had deceived Israel, but did not name him. This information was enough for Bregman to identify Marwan. Bregman also saw Marwan as a double agent who had weighed the Israeli leadership in security (Egypt would only attack when it had enough Scud missiles and long-range bombers). Former Mossad leader Zvi Zamir , who was in contact with Marwan immediately before the Yom Kippur War, was outraged by the loss of his spy and sought a conviction of Eli Zeira for treason.

In Egypt, after the revelations, his reputation seemed to have remained high. In May 2007 he visited Egypt (for the first time in three years) for the wedding of Gamal Mubarak, the son of Prime Minister Husni Mubarak . He was well networked in the Egyptian power elite, was considered a dazzling figure, but also had many enemies there.

He died under mysterious circumstances in 2007 when he fell from the balcony of his fourth-floor London apartment in Carlton House Terrace that afternoon. A witness from a neighboring building saw two men lean over the balcony after Marwan fell. His shoes, which could have helped to clarify, disappeared under unexplained circumstances. At the time of death, only the housekeeper was in the apartment, but she did not notice anything. At the time of his death, he was writing memoirs and was under the influence of medication after three heart operations. He was concerned about the ongoing investigation into the uncovering of his identity as a spy in Israel, as he told Bregman by telephone the day before his death. His widow suspected the Mossad was behind the attack.

Marwan was buried with full honors in Egypt. Among others, the highest Egyptian clergyman, the head of the secret service and the son of President Mubarak, Gamal Mubarak (a close friend of one of the sons of Marwan), were present.

Literature and films

  • Uri Ben-Joseph: The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel, Harper 2016
(Because of the Arabic version of the book, the Egyptian publisher Chaled Lotfi was sentenced to five years imprisonment at the end of December 2019. The Egyptian court found it proven that the publishing house had divulged military secrets by publishing the book.)
  • Egyptian journalist Amre Elissy published a book on the case in 2009 (and previously created an Egyptian television series about it).
  • The Netflix film The Angel (2018) was based on the book by Ben-Joseph (who suspected he would have been a double agent ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kahana, Historical dictionary of Israeli intelligence, Scarecrow Press 2006, pp. XXX
  2. ↑ a b c d e Hoff, Death in St. James, Zeit online 2007
  3. ↑ Egyptian publisher has to be jailed for five years. Israelnetz.de , January 7, 2020, accessed on January 12, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Marwan, Ashraf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Egyptian spy for Israel and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Cairo
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 2007
Place of death London