Ibrahim Abdel Hady Pasha

Ibrahim Abdel Hady Pasha
إبراهيم عبد الهادي
28th Prime Minister of Egypt
In office
28 December 1948 – 26 July 1949
MonarchKing Farouk
Preceded byMahmoud El Nokrashy Pasha
Succeeded byHussein Sirri Pasha
Personal details
Born(1896-02-14)14 February 1896
Egypt
Died18 February 1981(1981-02-18) (aged 85)
Cairo, Egypt
PartySaadist Institutional Party

Ibrahim Abdel Hady Pasha (14 February 1896[a] – 18 February 1981) was an Egyptian politician who was the 28th Prime Minister from 28 December 1948 until 26 July 1949.[2] After the 1952 Egyptian revolution, he was placed on trial in the revolutionary court.

Early life and politics

He was born in al-Zarqa, a town near Damietta in the Dakahlia Governorate.[1] He studied at the Abbasiyya Secondary school in Alexandria.[3] As a law student, he became a student leader during the 1919 Egyptian revolution, spending four years behind bars.[1][4] He received his law license from the government law school in 1925.[4] He served in the Chamber of Deputies representing his hometown in the 1929, 1936 and 1938 sessions.[4] He was a member of the Wafd party until joining the Saadist Institutional Party during the split from the Wafd in 1938. He became Chief of the Royal Court (Divan) in late 1946.[5]

Premiership

Hadi smoking a cigarette after this trial

Hady Pasha also served as the Minister of Finance for a short time between 10 December 1946 and 18 February 1947 in the cabinet of Mahmoud el Nokrashy Pasha.[6] He became prime minister following the assassination of el Nokrashy, the leader of the Saadist party, by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. As prime minister, Hady extended martial law, vowing to restore order.[7] He issued a decree prescribing the death penalty for anyone carrying bombs and explosives, following the bombing of a court house.[8] Thousands were arrested under his rule. Hasan al-Banna, the leader of the Brotherhood, was himself assassinated not long after, leading to suspicion of Hady's involvement. On 5 May 1949, there was an attempt on his life by the members of the Brotherhood.[9][10] One of his final acts as government was to enhance Egypt's position in the Suez Canal board, such as increasing Egypt's seats on the Board of Directors.[11] His government was eventually replaced on 26 July 1949. He lost his seat in the Egyptian senate following a purge of senators in July 1950.[12]

Post-premiership and Trial

Following the coup of the Free Officers in July 1952, the new ruling junta ordered the existing political parties to 'purify' themselves by purging their ranks of the old guards. al-Hady and his Sa'adist party took a more conciliatory stance towards the officers than other pre-revolutionary parties, ordering the creation of a new secretariat.[13][14]

On 26 September 1953, he was taken to a revolutionary military tribunal following his arrest several days before.[15] He was charged with treason against the country and revolution by being in contact with harmful "foreign elements" in 1953, treason against the country and its well being due to his actions in the 1948 Palestine war, corruption due to his 'reign of terror', and for the assassination of Hasan al-Banna. He pleaded not guilty to all four of these charges.[16] During his trial, this request for additional council beyond his one attorney was denied. In his opening statement, he identified himself as a fellow revolutionary, denying accusations of treason, as well as arguing that King Farouk's decision to intervene in Palestine was not his responsibility.[17]

The decision to intervene in Palestine was a key topic of debate in the trial. According to an interview with the Egyptian journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Heikal was informed by Hady in March 1948 that Egypt would not enter the war.[18] At the trial, Hady argued that he was not aware of the decision to intervene before the public was aware, which was contradicted by evidence of his involvement in several senior government meetings that planned Egypt's intervention.[19] On 1 October 1953, Hady was sentenced to execution by hanging and the confiscation of his property. The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment with hard labor on 4 October.[20][21] He was released in 1954 for health reasons, and his property was restored in 1975.[22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Meital puts his birth year as 1899 but no date.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Meital 2017, p. 72.
  2. ↑ Timeline/list of rulers at Rulers.org
  3. ↑ Reid, Donald M. (1983). "Turn-of-the-Century Egyptian School Days". Comparative Education Review. 27 (3): 391. doi:10.1086/446382. ISSN 0010-4086. JSTOR 1187743.
  4. 1 2 3 Goldschmidt Jr 2000, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Meital 2017, p. 73.
  6. ↑ William M. Steen (April 1947). "Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology December 1, 1946-February 28, 1947". Middle East Journal. 1 (2): 192–195. JSTOR 4321861.
  7. ↑ Qayyum 1973, pp. 91–93.
  8. ↑ Mitchell, Richard P. (1969). The Society of the Muslim Brothers. Oxford University Press. pp. 65–69.
  9. ↑ Mitchell 1969, p. 72.
  10. ↑ Reid 1982, p. 649.
  11. ↑ Qayyum 1973, p. 96.
  12. ↑ Gordon, Joel (1987). Towards Nasser’s Egypt: The consolidation of the July revolution and the end of the old regime, 1952-1955. [Volumes I and II] (Thesis). University of Michigan. pp. 33–34.
  13. ↑ Gordon 1987, p. 178.
  14. ↑ Gordon 1992, p. 69.
  15. ↑ Meital 2017, pp. 73–74.
  16. ↑ Meital 2017, pp. 73–75.
  17. ↑ Meital 2017, pp. 80–81.
  18. ↑ Heikal, Mohamed Hassanein (1988). "Mohamed Hassanein Heikal: Reflections on a Nation in Crisis, 1948". Journal of Palestine Studies. 18 (1): 116. doi:10.2307/2537598. ISSN 0377-919X. Before I visited Palestine the second time, in March 1948, I met with a number of people for briefings about the situation. I understood from Ibrahim Pasha 'Abd al-Hadi, chief of the royal cabinet, that Egypt would not enter the war. All that would happen would be that volunteers like the Muslim Brothers and some army officers would respond to the appeals of al-Hajj Amin. One main reason was that at the time we were involved in negotiations with the British. They were arguing that their presence in the Suez Canal Zone base was important in order to fill the power vacuum in the Middle East. Egypt's argument was that the Egyptian army was capable of filling this vacuum. 'Abd al-Hadi's opinion was that even if the Egyptian army was capable of defeating all of the Jewish "gangs" in Palestine, Egypt's contention that the Egyptian army was capable of filling this vacuum would be discredited if any miscalculation occurred
  19. ↑ Meital 2017, p. 88.
  20. ↑ "Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology". Middle East Journal. 8 (1): 73. Winter 1954. JSTOR 4322566.
  21. ↑ Meital 2017, p. 108.
  22. ↑ Goldschmidt Jr 2000, p. 5.

Sources

  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Ibrahim Abdel-Hadi Pasha at Wikimedia Commons


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