On the anniversary of his death, Al-Nabawi Ismail, the iron man who led the Interior Ministry in Egypt's hardest years
Al-Nabawi Ismail, one of the most skilled heads of the Ministry of Interior in modern Egypt, known for his strength and decisiveness in his decisions and instructions, described as the iron man and the black box of the Sadat era, as he was his right-hand man. He witnessed the assassination of Sadat at the podium incident, declared war on black market tycoons, and was the hero of the September 1981 arrests that ended with Sadat's assassination. He passed away on this day in 2009.
Major General Al-Nabawi Ismail was born in the Al-Darb neighborhood, graduated from the Police College in 1946, and studied law at the Faculty of Law, Cairo University, where he met his wife, the singer Fayed Kamil, during his studies. He began his career in the State Security Investigations Service immediately after the July 1952 Revolution, but political conflicts ousted some of the early leaders of the State Security apparatus, so he moved to the Railway Investigation Department, then became director of the office of Mamdouh Salem, who was then Minister of Interior. He was appointed Deputy Minister in February 1977, and six months later was chosen as Minister of Interior for five years from 1977 to 1982.
Regarding the assassination of Sadat, Major General Al-Nabawi Ismail said: The Jihad group planned to kill Sadat more than five times before the podium incident. One of these times was before the wave of arrests ordered by Sadat in September 1981 at the Qanater rest house, another was on his way to the National Party, and the third was in July 1981 during his participation in a celebration of the anniversary of Farouk's departure from Alexandria. They intended to storm the celebration wearing military police uniforms and carrying a vehicle loaded with gas cylinders and explosives, then detonate it. However, the density of security prevented them from entering the venue.
Al-Nabawi Ismail played his role in one of the most difficult stages in modern Egyptian history as much as possible. He constantly reiterated that his main mission was to organize the house from within and secure the country from the dangers of those who rejected peace, who tried to threaten Egypt's security. Thus, he succeeded in foiling many terrorist plots, such as blowing up the Mogamma building and the radio and television building, and many attempts to assassinate President Mohamed Anwar Sadat. Additionally, Al-Nabawi Ismail — as it was said — saved Gamal Abdel Nasser from an assassination attempt during the celebrations in Suez Governorate in 1965.
After Sadat's death, Al-Nabawi Ismail left the Ministry of Interior to become Deputy Prime Minister. He was the minister under whose tenure the National Party and the government achieved 99.9% in all elections. In 1982, he was appointed Minister of Local Government until he officially left the system. Major General Al-Nabawi faced an assassination attempt in August 1987 when attackers fired at the balcony of his home. They resorted to this method due to the heavy security at the house on Arab League Street, but the attempt failed.
Death after a long career
On this day, June 15, 2009, Major General Al-Nabawi Ismail passed away at Dar Al-Fouad Hospital after a long battle with illness. His funeral was held in a large military procession from the Al-Rashdan Mosque.
