Sami Sharaf

{{Short description|Egyptian military officer and politician (1929–2023)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|image = سامي شرف.jpg

|imagesize =

|caption = Sharaf in 1970

|office = Minister of State for Presidential Affairs

|primeminister =

|president = {{ubl|Gamal Abdel Nasser |Anwar Sadat}}

|term_start = 28 September 1961

|term_end = May 1971

|predecessor =

|successor = Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|4|20|df=y}}

|birth_place = Heliopolis, Cairo, {{avoid wrap|Kingdom of Egypt}}

|death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|01|23|1929|4|20|df=y}}

|death_place = Cairo, Egypt

|resting_place =

|spouse =

|children =

|party = {{ubl|Arab Socialist Union |Arab Democratic Nasserist Party}}

|alma_mater = Military Academy

}}

Sami Sharaf ({{langx|ar|سامي شرف}}; 20 April 1929 – 23 January 2023) was an Egyptian military officer who held various posts during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser. His public roles ended in May 1971 when he was arrested and then imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities under the presidency of Anwar Sadat.

Early life and education

Sharaf was born in Heliopolis, Cairo on 20 April 1929.{{cite news|title=كاتم أسرار عبدالناصر وأهم رجاله.. 50 معلومة عن الراحل سامي شرف|url=https://www.elbalad.news/5621935|access-date=24 January 2023|work=Al Balad|date=24 January 2023|language=ar}} His father, Mohamed Abdel Aziz Sharaf, was a physician who was trained in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and served as the director of Beni Suef Governorate.{{cite news|title=Nasser's Head of Presidential Office Sami Sharaf dies at 93|access-date=20 August 2023

|work=Al Ahram Weekly|date=23 January 2023|url=https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/2/484785/Egypt/Society/Nasser%E2%80%99s-Head-of-Presidential-Office-Sami-Sharaf-d.aspx}}{{cite news|author=David Sadler|title=The departure of Sami Sharaf, the treasurer of Abdel Nasser.. and the prisoner of the Sadat era|work=Globe Echo|date=25 January 2023|url=https://globeecho.com/politics/the-departure-of-sami-sharaf-the-treasurer-of-abdel-nasser-and-the-prisoner-of-the-sadat-era/|access-date=22 August 2023}} Sami had five siblings.

Sharaf graduated from the Military Academy in February 1949. One of his teachers at the academy was Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Career and activities

Following his graduation Sharaf joined the army. In January 1953 he was arrested in the artillery crackdown and jailed. After he was freed, he began to work in the military intelligence unit. He was part of the Free Officers movement's left-wing faction.{{cite book|author=Raymond A. Jr. Hinnebusch|title=Egyptian Politics Under Sadat|year=1988|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9781685855550|publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers|location=Boulder, CO; London|isbn=9781685855550

|page=41|doi=10.1515/9781685855550}}

Sharaf was the head of the Presidential Office.{{cite book|author=Amos Perlmutter|title=Egypt: The Praetorian State|publisher=Transaction Books|year=1974|isbn=978-1-4128-2234-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHMPDREKE2MC&pg=PA189|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=189}} He was primarily in charge of the security of the President Gamal Abdel Nasser being one of Nasser's personal support personnel.{{cite journal|author=Robert Springborg|title=Patrimonialism and policy making in Egypt: Nasser and Sadat and the tenure policy for reclaimed lands

|jstor=4282729}}

On 28 September 1961, Sharaf was named as the state minister for presidential affairs. When the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) had disputes with the Syrians and the United Arab Republic was dissolved in 1961 the ANM developed direct ties with Egypt under the coordination of Sharaf.{{cite book|author=Moshe Shemesh|title=The Palestinian National Revival: In the Shadow of the Leadership Crisis, 1937–1967|year=2018|publisher=Indiana University Press|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv5npkcc|doi=10.2307/j.ctv5npkcc

|location=Bloomington, IN|isbn=9780253036599|page=131|s2cid=158990046}} He was a member of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) and was part of its secret unit, the Socialist Vanguard (Arabic: al-Tanzim al-Tali‘i), which was also called the Vanguard Organization.{{cite magazine|author=Hesham Sallam|title=From the State of Vanguards to the House of Kofta: Reflections on Egypt's Authoritarian Impasse|access-date=5 November 2022|url=https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41912|magazine=Jadaliyya|date=26 October 2020}} The unit was established in 1963 and was headed by Sharaf and Sharawi Gomaa.{{cite journal|author=Iliya Harik|title=The Single Party as a Subordinate Movement: The Case of Egypt|journal=World Politics|date=October 1973|volume=26|doi=10.2307/2009918|issue=1

|page=97|jstor=2009918|s2cid=153367845}} Saudi King Faisal claimed that Sharaf was involved in a plot against him in June 1969.{{cite book|year=2020|author=Brandon Friedman|title=The End of Pax Britannica in the Persian Gulf, 1968-1971|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=Cham|isbn=978-3-030-56182-6|page=133|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6}} As of 1971 Sharaf was one of the Vanguard secretariat's ten members.{{cite book|page=334

|doi=10.1515/9781400857357}}

Sharaf served as the minister of state under the presidency of Anwar Sadat.{{cite journal|title=Chronology February 16, 1971-May 15, 1971 |journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Summer 1971|volume=25|issue=3|pages=379,387|jstor=4324780}} Sharaf's tenure ended on 13 May 1971 when he resigned from office. He was succeeded by Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad as minister of state on 14 May.

Shortly after his resignation Sharaf was arrested due to his alleged involvement in a planned coup to overthrow Anwar Sadat. The reason for the arrest of Sharaf and other officials such as Sharawi Gomaa was that they had been supported by the ASU, the leftist figures affiliated with the Al Tali'a magazine, and the business elites.{{cite journal|author=Pradeep Sen|title=Party system under Sadat. Change or continuity?|journal=India Quarterly|volume=37|issue=3|year=1981|jstor=45071641|page=415}} Sharaf was sentenced to death, but in December 1971 his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.{{cite news|author=Raymond H. Anderson|title=Four Egyptians Given Life Terms|access-date=5 November 2022|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/10/archives/four-egyptians-given-life-terms-sabry-among-those-whose-sentences.html|date=10 December 1971}}{{cite journal|title=Chronology November 16, 1971-February 15, 1972|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Spring 1972|issue=2|volume=26|page=166|jstor=4324910}} He was released from the prison on 15 May 1981. Sharaf was among the cofounders of the Arab Democratic Nasserist Party, but later he left it.{{cite news|author=Gamal Nkrumah|title=Shadows of the Revolution. Sami Sharaf|url=https://elw3yalarabi.org/samy-sharaf/SMY-Ahram-Weekly-UK1.html

|access-date=5 November 2022|work=Al-Ahram Weekly|year=2007}}

Sharaf was an anti-communist and supported the establishment of a capitalist state.{{cite journal|author=Ibrahim G. Aoudé|title=From national bourgeois development to Infitah: Egypt 1952-1992|journal=Arab Studies Quarterly|date=Winter 1994|volume=16|issue=1|page=11

|jstor=41858749}} However, he was considered to be a Soviet agent from 1955.{{cite journal|author=Richard B. Parker|title=The June War: Whose Conspiracy?|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|date=Summer 1992|volume=21|issue=4|page=9|doi=10.2307/2537660|jstor=2537660}}{{cite journal|author1=Isabella Ginor|author2=Gideon Remez|title=Israel's Best Spy—or a Master Double Agent? New light from the Soviet angle on the mystery of Ashraf Marwan|journal=The Journal of the Middle East and Africa|year=2017|volume=8|issue=4

|pages=386,388|doi=10.1080/21520844.2017.1409025|s2cid=158309394|author1-link=Isabella Ginor|author2-link=Gideon Remez}} Following his removal from office in 1971 Ashraf Marwan who was the son-in-law of Nasser and an intelligence officer working under Sharaf, was given the task of coordinating the intelligence affairs. As of 2011 Sharaf was part of the Egyptian Committee at the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization.{{cite news|title=Foreign minister receives the delegation of the Egyptian Committee at the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A274126187/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=59f24ad7|access-date=27 April 2024|work=States News Service|date=4 December 2011|location=Cairo}}

Sharaf published a book on his memoirs, Sanawat wa ayam ma‘ Jamal ‘Abd al Nasir: Shahadat Sami Sharaf, in 2006.{{cite journal|page=10

|s2cid=57570449|journal=Journal of Cold War Studies|issue=4|jstor=26922982}} He contributed to the Egyptian newspapers Al-Ahram and Al-Masry Al-Youm, and his last article appeared on 8 April 2021.

Personal life and death

Sharaf was married and had four children. He died in Cairo on 23 January 2023 at the age of 93.{{cite news

|title=Sami Sharaf, longtime confidant of Egypt's Nasser, dies at 94|newspaper=The National|date=24 January 2023

|access-date=20 August 2023|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/egypt/2023/01/24/sami-sharaf-longtime-confidante-of-egypts-nasser-dies-at-94/}}{{cite news|title=سامي شرف رجل يوليو وسجين التصحيح .."بروفايل"|language=ar|access-date=23 January 2023|work=Egypt Independent

|url=https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/2800737|date=23 January 2023}} Funeral prayers for him took place in Cairo with the attendance of Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser, a son of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

=In popular culture=

Sami Sharaf was one of the characters in the 1996 Egyptian film Nasser 56 and in the 2001 Egyptian film entitled The Days of Sadat.{{cite book|editor=Walter Armbrust|title=Mass Mediations: New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond

|year=2000|author=Joel Gordon|publisher=University of California Press|chapter=Nasser 56/Cairo 96. Reimaging Egypt’s Lost Community|isbn=978-0-520-21926-7|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0TcLEgR9GkMC&pg=PA162|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA; London|page=162}}{{cite journal|author=Joel Gordon|title=Days of Anxiety/Days of Sadat: Impersonating Egypt's Flawed Hero on the Egyptian Screen|journal=Journal of Film and Video|volume=54|issue=2–3|year=2002|jstor=20688378|pages=27–42}} He was featured by Slimane Dazi in The Angel, a 2018 Netflix film.{{cite news|author=Adham Youssef|title=The Angel, orientalism by ignorance|newspaper=Daily News Egypt|date=24 September 2018|access-date=19 August 2023|url=https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2018/09/24/the-angel-orientalism-by-ignorance/}}

References

Category:1929 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Presidential affairs ministers of Egypt

Category:Egyptian prisoners sentenced to death

Category:Egyptian Military Academy alumni

Category:Egyptian political party founders

Category:Arab Socialist Union (Egypt) politicians

Category:Egyptian anti-communists

Category:People from Cairo Governorate

Category:Egyptian spies

Category:Egyptian military officers

Category:Egyptian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment

Category:Politicians from Cairo

Category:Egyptian columnists