This is their record … Secret files of the Brotherhood

Episode One: Assassination of Noqrashi Pasha

Published on December 29, 2013 on the site of the Arab Center for Studies and Research

*Complete confessions of Noqrashi Pasha's killer

*A company led by a police officer named Ahmed Fouad, took over the execution process

*The killer and the execution group trained in Ezbet Sheikh Mohamed Farghali in Ismailia

*Sheikh Sayed Sabiq issued a fatwa permitting the assassination

In this month in 1948, the Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Noqrashi Pasha, the former prime minister of Egypt. In the same month in 2012, the Brotherhood's battalions launched another Battle of the Camel that left six of the youth of the revolution dead. The victims' only fault was that they came out to express their opinion on the rule of their country. 

Therefore, I decided to start writing the 'Brotherhood and Violence' file, beginning with this issue, which formed a watershed point in the Brotherhood's relationship with power.

Therefore, I decided to start from the case of al-Noqrashi Pasha and explain how the Brotherhood understood this relationship, the foundations on which it was based, and what the Brotherhood's goals behind it were.

It is natural for this type of historical writing to start with the beginnings (the beginning of the relationship between the Brotherhood and the Noqrashi government, and the circumstances that surrounded it, up to the top of the tragedy that ended with the killing of the man and the subsequent killing of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the group as well).

However, doubting the Brotherhood's intentions, and their deterrence brigades, made me start from where I wanted to end (from the moment of the assassination) according to the flashback method, and then return to the beginnings, in an attempt to explain the ambiguous map of the Brotherhood’s relationship with power in all eras, and through all times, especially with regard to the aspect of the use of violence, when subjugation (subjugation of power, whatever its directions) is not suitable for the benefit of the goals of the group, which often contradicts in all times and situations the interests of the homeland and the nation.

I saw that I close every door to the disbelievers, and they are many, by starting with the confessions of the perpetrators, the executors, and the planners, through the original case papers, the memoranda of the Public Prosecution, and the testimonies and memoranda they wrote with their own hands, decades after those incidents.

I deliberately excluded the investigations of political police to amend those who were just with evidence, and to proceed in their falsehoods.

It is natural, according to the method I chose, to begin the story of the assassination of al-Noqrashi from the confessions of the first suspect, the student of veterinary medicine, Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan, and the notes of the Public Prosecution, issued on 7/11/1949, with the knowledge of Mr. Mahmud Mansour, the attorney general at the time, which were included in case papers No. 5 of 1949, military felonies - Abdeen, and its file No. 1/3/197.

The memorandum begins with the attorney general's accusation of:

1- Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan

The age is 22, a student of the School of Veterinary Medicine. He lives in Hadayek al-Qubba, Hosni Street No. 6, and is imprisoned in the Foreigners' Prison.

2- Mohamed Malik Youssef Mohamed Malik

Age 25, an employee at Almaza Airport and resides in al-Sahafa Street No. 181 in Sabtieh.

He is imprisoned in the Appellate Prison

3- Atef Attia Helmy

The age is 25, a medical student, and he lives in al-Jawali Street No. 13 in al Muneera.

He is imprisoned in Egypt Prison No. 4325/1932

4- Kamal Sayed Sayed al-Qazzaz

Age 26, is a furniture carpenter and resides in al-Rahba Street No. 4, in Qal'at al-Kabsh.

He is imprisoned in Egypt Prison No. 7762/1658

5- Abdel Aziz Ahmed al-Baqly

Age 26, Tarazi Franky and lives on the Government Street No. 7 in Qal'at al-Kabsh.

He is imprisoned in Egypt Prison No. 2748/7760

6- Sayed Sabeq Mohamed al-Tohamy

The age is 34, a reader of evidence, and he resides in Tabbaneh Street, the sheep market alley, No. 6

He is imprisoned in Egypt Prison No. 6196/2873

That on December 28, 1948 AD, corresponding to Safar 27, 1368 AH, in the Abdin Department in Cairo, they committed the following crimes:

First suspect

Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan

First: Killing Mahmud Fahmi al-Noqrashi Pasha, deliberately with premeditation. He agreed with the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth defendants to kill him, and with their help he prepared a pistol and a military jacket for a police officer with the rank of first lieutenant. He was flexible on wearing it and appearing with it, and on the morning of the day of the accident, he wore it and carried the pistol. He went to a café near the Ministry of the Interior, waiting for a telephone signal from one of his partners about the approaching date of the victim's arrival. That pistol intended to kill him, wounding him with the gunshot. These wounds were indicated in the medical report. 

Second: Possessing a firearm - a pistol - without a license

The second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth defendants:

They participated with the first accused by agreeing, instigating and assisting in the commission of these two crimes by planning to kill the victim. They sketched for him how to commit the crime and specified the time and place for him, so the two crimes took place based on that agreement, incitement and this assistance.

According to the same report:

The first accused has committed the two crimes stipulated in Articles 230, 231 and 232 of the Penal Code, Article 1 of Law No. 8 of 1917 on the possession and bearing of weapons, and Articles 1 and 2 of Military Order No. 35 regarding firearms and ammunition as amended by Military Order No. 49.

The rest of the accused have committed the crime stipulated in the aforementioned articles and articles 40, first, second, and third paragraphs, and 41 of the Penal Code.

Therefore, and pursuant to Law No. 15 of 1923 regarding the system of martial law - and the first article of Law No. 73 of 1948 regarding adding a new case to the two cases in which martial law may be declared - and the decree issued on May 13, 1948 declaring martial law and Military Orders No. 67 (Second) and 72 regarding the permissibility of referring some common law crimes to military courts and Law No. 59 of 49 regarding the continuation of Law No. 73 of 1948.

The Public Prosecution requests the Supreme Military Court to punish the accused in accordance with the aforementioned military articles and orders.

Confessions of Noqrashi's killer:

A report submitted by the Appeals Prosecution and edited on August 10, 1949, with the knowledge of the Appeals Prosecutor, made a number of important observations, foremost of which is the statements of the first accused, Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan, a student at the School of Veterinary Medicine, which came as follows (we provided the full text According to what was stated in the Public Prosecution's report, for the first time, so that young generations may know the whole truth without falsification).

First: Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan, accused of killing the late Mahmud Fahmi al-Noqrashi Pasha, decided that in early 1946 he joined a secret society composed of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and took an oath in one of the houses on the Qur’an and the pistol, and that he saw the first accused, Mr. Fayez Abdel Muttalib in January. In 1948, he headed a group of them who were trained in the use of weapons in the al-Asmarat area in the Mokattam mountain, including Shafiq Ibrahim Anas, the third accused, and that around May or June 1948, one of the members of his secret group called Ahmed Adel Kamal (accused in the military felony case No. 227 in 1948 al-Waili introduced him to him) in his home with Mr. Fayez in his capacity as head of the Cairo secret groups. This Ahmed Adel Kamal assigned him about a month later to meet Mr. Fayez at his home on a date he had set for him a few days before Eid al-Adha. Helmy Farghal and Mohamed Ahmad Ali, as well as Gamal Al-Deen Ibrahim Fawzi (the accused in Military Felony Case No. 227 in 1948 al-Waeli) (which is the case known as the Jeep case) and Mr. Fayez told them that they would not form a new group under the leadership of Gamal Fawzi. 

The members of this group met at the house of their leader on the first day of this holiday and agreed to take a trip to the city of Ismailia on the third day (corresponding to October 15, 1948) and traveled on time to an estate belonging to this city. They spent the night there and in the morning, they took a quick-fire cannon, pistols, and a hand grenade, and walked about half an hour on foot in the desert located on the western side of the estate. There, they trained in the use of cannon and pistols, as Mohamed Ahmed threw a hand grenade – Abdel Meguid gave this estate an accurate description that was found to be correct and guided by the inspection.

It turned out that it was the farm planted by Mohamed Farghali and Mohamed Ibrahim Sweilam (the defendants in the aforementioned case), in which weapons, explosives and papers of the secret society were seized - and he was guided about the training place in that desert, where he found the envelopes of bullets fired and a grenade casing.

Malik Youssef and his role:

The memorandum of the Appeals Prosecution goes on to mention that Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan decided that he and the members of his group began to meet after that at the house of their leader Gamal al-Deen Ibrahim Fawzi. After a few meetings, he introduced them to the accused, Mohamed Malik Youssef, and said that he joined their group, and that he would train them to drive cars and motorcycles. Gamal Fawzi traveled to Palestine on November 16, 1948, Mohamed Malik became the link between them and the leadership, and they held their meetings sometimes in his house and sometimes in the Pinging Hall of the Muslim Youth Association Club, as Mohamed Malik was an old member of it and the rest of the group members joined it for this purpose. After the order was issued to dissolve the group on December 8, 1948 Abdel Meguid Ahmad Hasan, Mahmud Kamel al-Sayed, Mahmud Helmy Farghal, Mohamed Ahmad Ali and Mohamed Malik Youssef met in the latter's house, where he introduced them to the second accused Mohamed Salah al-Deen Abdel Muti as one of the heads of the secret society. One of his fingers was tied. Salah informed them that the association had intended to avenge the order of dissolution from those who caused it, namely Noqrashi Pasha and Abdel Rahman Ammar Bey. Abdel Meguid decided that on the Saturday before the date of the incident of killing Noqrashi Pasha (i.e. on December 18, 1948) Mohamed Malik came to him in his house at about half past seven in the morning, and asked him to go to meet Ahmed Fouad in his house in Abbasiya for an order that he would tell him. He met him there and sat with him in a room in the courtyard of this house and informed him that the choice had fallen on him to kill al-Noqrashi Pasha. Then the facts of this day were mentioned in the original list from Abdel Meguid's interview with Atef Attia and going to Kamal al-Qazzaz’s shop, then Abdel Aziz al-Baqli’s shop to take the measurements and conduct the first rehearsal in his shop in the evening. On the following Sunday (December 19, 1948), he called on Ahmed Fouad in the morning in the media café in the name of Hosni as an experiment. Then Abdel-Meguide went to the cafe opposite the Ministry of the Interior, where he found the fourth and seventh defendants, Mahmud Kamel al-Sayed and Mohamed Ahmed Ali. He understood that they were sitting there to watch al-Noqrashi Pasha’s car. At about one in the afternoon, he met al-Tarazi Abdel Aziz Ahmed al-Baqali, according to a previous appointment, in front of the Isis cinema. They went together to the house of this Tarazi, where he held the second rehearsal for him. 

He also bought black shoes on this day and met in the evening based on a previous agreement with the officer Ahmed Fouad A. They went to Dar al-Hikma on al-Qasr al-Aini Street and went together to Atef Attia’s house, where they found him and Mr. Fayez Abdel Mutalleb, the first accused, Abdel-Halim Mohamed Ahmad, the fifth accused, and Galal al-Deen Yassin, the eighth accused. Accompanying Abdel Meguid at the time of the crime – Sayed Sabeq Ali Abdel Meguid recited some verses and supplications justifying him for committing them and instructed him to recite a special supplication on his way to the scene of the accident. 

Ahmed and they went to guide the latter in a taxi to the house No. 25, Ali Younes Street, Shubra, so that Abdel Meguid knew his location and Abdel Halim understood that it was the house where he was prepared to change his clothes.

We will meet in the next episode to explain how the assassination was carried out by its perpetrators.