On the 11th anniversary of Mubarak's abdication.. dramatic and bloody endings for Egypt's rulers in the modern era

CAIRO -

The end of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule came unexpectedly and dramatically after the popular revolution that began on January 25, 2011 forced him to step down.

On the 11th anniversary of the scene of Mubarak's abdication on February 11, 2011, we recall from the memory of history some of the dramatic and tragic endings of Egypt's rulers in the modern era, which ranged from madness, assassination, isolation and exile.

Madness for the Pasha and tuberculosis for his son

An isolated prison in his room, this is how the case ended with Muhammad Ali Pasha the Great, the governor of Egypt and its ruler for more than 43 years (1805-1848) after a tumultuous life full of external and internal battles and major projects that made some describe him as the founder of modern Egypt.

The tragic nature of the last years of Muhammad Ali’s rule prevailed after the terrible defeats his army suffered and its collapse in front of the foreign alliance and the signing of the Treaty of London in 1840, which cut off the pasha’s nails and halted his expansion projects, in addition to the country’s exposure to financial crises.

The setbacks that the governor was subjected to led to his suffering from bouts of insomnia and outbursts of anger, and his mind began to become turbulent and dull, according to the correspondences of foreign consuls in Egypt to their country in 1841, then the matter developed to show symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s, which the historian Afaf Lutfi referred to in her book “Egypt in Muhammad Ali entrusted it to the effect of silver nitrate, which was Pasha’s medicine for dysentery (intestinal inflammation that mainly affects the colon).

With the deterioration of the Pasha's condition, he was removed from the rule of Egypt in 1848 and deposited in his room, forbidden from meetings and visits, and officially took over the rule of the country by his close son and the sword of his conquests Ibrahim Pasha, who was suffering from an advanced case of pulmonary tuberculosis.

The disease ended Ibrahim Pasha a few months after he assumed the rule of the country, so that the son died before his father on November 10, 1848.

And it was only a few months until Muhammad Ali joined his son on August 2, 1849, and his funeral, as described by the British consul at the time, John Murray, was "very poor and miserable", and the ruler of the country at the time, Abbas I, the grandson of the great Pasha, who hated his grandfather, was absent.

The grandchildren are falling

Similar to the dramatic end of the rule of Muhammad Ali Pasha, came the end of the rule of 4 of his grandsons who took power in Egypt for different periods, and their ends varied between assassination, dismissal and exile.

The first descendant to fall was Abbas Pasha I bin Ahmed Toson bin Muhammad Ali, who took power on November 24, 1848 after the death of his uncle Ibrahim Pasha, to be the third ruler of the Alawi dynasty.

Abbas Pasha continued to rule Egypt for five and a half years, before he was assassinated in his Manif Palace in Banha on July 13, 1854.

The sources differed about the mastermind of the plot to kill Abbas Pasha I. Ismail Sarhank mentions in his book "The Truths of the News about the Countries of the Seas" that some of the governor's mamluks were the ones who killed him - with the help of some of his servants - after he mistreated them.

However, Madame Olympe Edouard narrates another story in her book "Unveiling the Secrets of Egypt", where she accused Princess Nazly Hanim (Abbas's aunt) of being behind his assassination.

Khedive Ismail bin Ibrahim Pasha (social networking sites)

Isolation and denial

A different end, but no less exciting, faced by Khedive Ismail bin Ibrahim Pasha, the fifth ruler of Egypt from the Alawi dynasty, as he ended up isolated and exiled outside the country.

Ismail took over the rule of Egypt on January 18, 1863, and his 16-year reign was characterized by extravagance in spending and an attempt to imitate the European style, so he was forced to expand in borrowing, as Egypt plunged into debt and failed to pay, which led to the imposition of European guardianship on it.

In 1879, the European countries saw that the moment had come to get rid of the Khedive, and the Sublime Porte - at the behest of France and Britain - issued a decree dismissing Ismail in a humiliating telegram and appointing his son Tawfiq Pasha as governor of Egypt.

The same fate was faced by the last Khedive Abbas Helmy II, the seventh ruler of Egypt from the Alawite dynasty, who assumed the throne of the country for nearly 22 years, starting on March 26, 1892 and ending with his dismissal on December 19, 1914.

Abbas Helmy's second reign was characterized by his attempts to stand up to the hegemony of the British occupation and to get close to the people to increase his popularity, and his name was later associated with the famous chant in the national demonstrations against colonialism, "God is alive, Abbas is Jay."

Britain took advantage of the outbreak of World War II and the presence of Khedive Abbas outside the country to announce the imposition of guardianship on Egypt on December 18, 1914, and on the next day a British decision was issued to remove the Khedive from his position, and he remained in exile for 30 years until he died on December 19, 1944, It is the same date as the day he was dismissed.

Coup and mysterious end

Another tragic end was for King Farouk, the last ruler of Egypt from the Alawite family, after he was overthrown by the Free Officers Organization on July 23, 1952, after 16 years on the throne of the country, ending his family's rule, which lasted nearly 150 years.

The last king was exiled outside the country, and he lived for about 13 years in Italy, until his life mysteriously ended on March 18, 1965, and the Italian police said that Farouk died of a heart attack, but it was said that Egyptian intelligence had planned to assassinate him on the orders of then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser, after Rumors about Farouk planning to return to Egypt.

Victim of democracy

The fate of Egypt’s rulers after the end of the royal era did not differ from its predecessor, and the beginning was with Major General Muhammad Naguib, who ruled the country as the first president of the republic for less than two years (June 18, 1953 - November 14, 1954), before being overthrown by his comrades in the Leadership Council Revolution after the aggravation of differences between them.

Najib believed that the army should return to its barracks, remove it from power, and return to civilian parliamentary life, but Gamal Abdel Nasser - who was in control of the council - had another opinion that ended with Najib being dismissed and placed under house arrest, removing his name from history books, official documents and records and preventing his appearance in the media. media.

bloody end

The end of President Anwar al-Sadat's noisy and bloody rule came after an 11-year rule (1970-1981), as he was assassinated live and among his forces and leaders on October 6, 1981 during a military parade to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the October 1973 war.

The revolution deposes Mubarak

After Mubarak spent 30 years in power, the popular revolution that erupted on January 25, 2011 and lasted 18 days forced him to step down, and his deputy and intelligence director at the time, Major General Omar Suleiman, stood on February 11, 2011 to announce with a sullen face Mubarak’s abandonment of power and the assignment of the Supreme Council The armed forces administer the affairs of the country.

The momentum of the January 25, 2011 revolution and the popular pressure that followed Mubarak's abdication forced the ruling authorities at the time to bring him to trial on charges of financial corruption and killing revolutionaries. Mubarak was behind bars, before he later obtained "innocence."

death captive

The end of the rule of Egypt's first elected civilian president, Mohamed Morsi, was even more tragic, although his rule did not last for more than one year, ending in a "military coup" on July 3, 2013, reportedly in response to opposition demonstrations that took place on June 30 calling for the president to step down.

After the army removed Morsi, he was arrested and forcibly disappeared, to appear as a defendant in courtrooms, and 3 final rulings were issued against him in the cases of “Ethtihadiya events,” “communication with Qatar,” and “insulting the judiciary.”

Morsi was kept in solitary confinement and denied visitation for 6 years until his death on June 17, 2019 following a heart attack in the courtroom during one of his court sessions.