CAIRO ASSASSINATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1944, Page 5

CAIRO ASSASSINATION

' FURTHER PARTICULARS EGYPTIAN CABINET MEETING LONDON, November 7. The Egyptian Prime Minister (Ahmed Maher Pasha) called the Egyptian Cabinet together late on Monday night to consider the situation following Lord Moyne’s -assassination. Ahmed Maher Pasha had previously visited the gaol where the assailants are held. Sir William Croft, Lord Moyne’s chief civil assistant, said: “This is a particularly senseless assassination, and is bound to recoil on the heads of those responsible.” Officials have disclosed that Lord Moyne’s assassins are Jewish terrorists. The Associated Press correspondent at Cairo says: The assassins’ motive is not known. Lord Moyne’s office is concerned exclusively with the relations between Britain and Egypt, and it does not cover other fields in the Middle East. The assassins, whose identity remains undisclosed, have remained silent all night long, in spite of continued police questioning. CAREFULLY PLANNED CRIME (Rec. 9.45) LONDON, Nov. 7. Lord Moyne’s assassins had been in Egypt over a week, and planned the murder with the utmost care, says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Cairo correspondent, quoting a British official. The men hired bicycles from a shop in Cairo on October 27, and November 1, and again yesterday. The men kept watch on Lord Moyne’s house for some days. They were standing inside the garden when Lord . Moyne drove in yesterday, with a woman secretary and an aide. As the driver alighted to open the door for Lord Moyne, the men opened fire with pistols. The driver was killed instantly and Lord Moyne fell wounded. Neither the secretary nor the aide was injured. The assassins, questioned in Hebrew, replied: “We are saying nothing. We are waiting, for the Court.” It is established that the men are Jews, but it is not known whether they came from Palestine. CHASE AFTER CULPRITS. RUGBY, November 7. After the assassins had fired, Captain Hughes-Onslow pursued the men on foot. An Egyptian policeman showed a police motor cyclist the direction the men had taken.- The motor cyclist eventually caught up with one man and seized him. Handing him over to a traffic policeman, he pursued the second man, and with the help of a crowd succeeded in drresting him also. When caught the men were taken to the police station and searched. Some papers were found on them. Colonel Giles and other Palestine police officials have arrived at Cairo to take part in the investigations. The assassins are to be tried by Egyptian Courts. King Farouk visited the military hospital last night to inquire into Lord Moyne’s condition. Lord Moyne was unconscious all the time after the attack, except for a few moments when a blood transfusion was given. Lord Moyne’s residence was never guarded. Disliking ostentation, he had asked for the guard to be removed. The Egyptian Government provided a police car escort, but last week Lord Moyne asked them to stop it. The funeral will take place to-mor-row.

■MR. CHURCHILL’S TRIBUTE.

RUGBY, November 7. The Prime Minister (Air. Churchill), addressing the Commons, paid an eloquent tribute to the public services and personal character ol Cord Moyne. He said that Parliament and the nation had suffered a very heavyloss. “We have as yet received no official information which fixes the authorship of the crime or gives us-/, a clue to the motive. The murderers:. ; themselves narrowly escaped lynch-; ing at the hands of Egyptian sub- ■ jects. Very searching inquiries will be made into the origin and associa- ■ tions of these strangers to Egypt. Referring to Lord Moyne s woik in the Mid-east, Mr. Churchill said: “Despatches and telegrams he wrote were a model oi clarity and vigour.* I was deeply impressed by the expansion of his mind under stress, of : , ■_ responsibility and events. Certainly 1 can testify, and so can the Secretary, to the marked impoverishment of our affairs m this theatre resulting from his removal, and the very great difficulty there wilL-bs found in filling the gap. In Particular Lord Moyne devoted himselt this year to a solution of the Palestinian problem. I can assure the House that the Jews in Palestine have lost a well-informed friend." - Mr A. Greenwood and Sn Peicy— Harris, leaders of the Labour and Liberal Parties, associated themselves with the Prime Minister’s tribute, -afedid other Members. « Lord Strabolgi said: I want to s know what is the underlying trouble , which causes these acts of terrorism n Palestine as well as Egypt. f n de- t; pendent thorough investigation should oe held immediately. I th’nk it far more probable that Lord Moyne was murdered by Nazi agents.