Anwar el-Sadat assassinated Oct. 6 1981

[Valin]

NY Times

 

 

SADAT ASSASSINATED AT ARMY PARADE AS MEN AMID RANKS FIRE INTO STANDS; VICE PRESIDENT AFFIRMS 'ALL TREATIES'

AT LEAST 8 KILLED Speaker of Parliamet is Interim President -- Election in 60 Days

By WILLIAM E. FARRELL

Special to The New York Times

 

CAIRO, Oct. 6 -- President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt was shot and killed today by a group of men in military uniforms who hurled hand grenades and fired rifles at him as he watched a military parade commemorating the 1973 war against Israel.

 

Egypt's treaties and international commitments would be respected. He said the Speaker of Parliament, Sufi Abu Taleb, would serve as interim President pending an election in 60 days.

 

The assassins' bullets ended the life of a man who earned a reputation for making bold decisions in foreign affairs, a reputation based in large part on his decision in 1977 to journey to the camp of Egypt's foe, Israel, to make peace.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

 

[Valin]

Sadat’s Increasingly Authoritarian Attitude

Alfred Leroy Atherton, Jr

 

When he came back (from Washington), one day he simply rounded up all the people who had ever been critical of him — from extremists on the Muslim Brotherhood side to people like Heikal. Heikal was not a threat to him. He had them all rounded up and put in jail for awhile to give them a lesson.

 

He also at the same time moved against the Coptic pope, the head of the Coptic Church. In any case, Sadat, in effect, exiled the pope, put the pope in a monastery in the desert and appointed a group of bishops to run the affairs of the church.

 

So tensions were high in the opposition, even in the loyal opposition, even among the people who would never think of going outside the law but did feel that Egypt should respect the views of those who disagreed and permit greater freedom of expression.

[Valin]