Old Regime Leaders Held In Egyptian Arrests

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27151, 22 September 1953, Page 9

Old Regime Leaders Held In Egyptian Arrests

,'N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) CAIRO, September 21, Eleven Egyptian notables of the old regime are in prison today after a‘ dramatic midnight swoop by jeeploads of military police armed with tommy guns. At the same time red-capped military police were posted outside the villa of Mr Mustapha el Nahas, the former Prime Minister and the leader of the dissolved Wafd Party, who, with his wife, Mrs Zeinab el Wakil, was placed under house arrest. ~ Mr Hafez Afifi, a leading industrialist and a former chief of King Farouk’s Royal Cabinet, is also under house arrest. The Egyptian Army Revolutionary Command announced early today that' those arrested would appear before the “Revolution Tribunal” set up last week to try “traitors to the regime.” Reports circulating in Cairo said they would be charged with attempting to overthrow the present military regime and to restore the monarchy. The trials will be held in public at the Revolution Command Headquarters on Gezira Island in the Nile.

The Revolution Tribunal is empowered to inflict punishment up to the death penalty. It is presided over by Wing Commander Abdel Latif Boghdady, Minister of War and Marine and a member of the Revolution Command. The other two members are Lieu-tenant-Colonel Anway Sadat and Squadron Leader Hassan Brahim, both members of the Revolution Command.

Those arrested included Ibrahim Abdel Hadi, a former Prime Minister and leader of the dissolved Saadist Party; Hamed Goupa, Vice-President of t|ie Saadist Party and a former chairman of the dissolved Chamber of Deputies; Ibrahim Farrag, formerly acting Secretary-General of the Waidist Party; Prince Abbas Halim, a cousin of King Farouk, who has already been arrested twice since General Naguib seized power; Karim Thabet, formerly Press Counsellor to the King, who was deprived of his political rights by the “Graft Court” earlier this summer after the misappropriation of State funds; Dr. Ahmed el Naguib, a close associate of King Farouk, who was also convicted for misappropriation of State funds; Mahmoud Riaz, a former Saadist Cabinet Minister; Kamel el Kawish, onetime governor Of Cairo; and Mahmoud Soliman el Ghannam, a former Wafd Minister of Police. Some of those arrested were detained for three months a year ago after General Naguib took control of the country and exiled King Farouk.