OBITUARY OF FOUAD SERAGEDDIN Pasha
THE TIMES of London, 14 August 2000
by Peter Shaw-Smith
Fouad Serageddin, leader of Egypt's Wafd (Delegation) Party was born on November 2, 1910. He died on August 9 aged 89.
A cigar perpetually hanging from his lips, the "Pasha", as Fouad Serageddin liked to be called, continued to refer to Egypt's 1952 Revolution as the "coup d'état" which aborted a programme of reform he had helped to mastermind as Wafd secretary-general.
When President Hosni Mubarak allowed the Wafd to emerge from a prolonged period of dormancy in 1984, Serageddin proved a skilful political operator given the limits imposed on a divided and decimated opposition, and made the
Al-Wafd newspaper an instant success through its Asfoura (Sparrow) column exposés of corruption and mismanagement.
A minister by his early thirties, he held four portfolios in the 1940s, serving in the Wafd-led Government of 1950-52 as Interior and Finance Minister. His political career was abruptly suspended as the Free Officers' coup neared. Put on trial, he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment but released two months later. Several periods of detention followed under Colonel Nasser.
Serageddin did not return to the political landscape until 1978, when President Sadat, attempting to reinvigorate party pluralism, likened him to Louis XIV coming back from the grave. Political turbulence ensued, however, and Serageddin was one of a number to be imprisoned in 1981 in the twilight of Sadat's rule.
The Wafd Party sprang from the delegation formed by the nationalist Saad Zaghloul in 1918 to demand complete independence from the British, and was officially founded a year later. Serageddin upheld the party's tradition for democracy, bisectarianism and liberalism, but in courting the Muslim Brotherhood was thought to have exceeded a remit to broaden its popular appeal.
He would later take credit for ordering police in Ismailia armed with rifles to engage in a futile battle against British troops using light artillery, but this merely precipitated the burning of Cairo a day later on January 26, 1952, and the Government's immediate dismissal. His political longevity typified Egypt's political ossification, and he was sometimes criticised for leading a party of the past rather than the future.
CNN, 12 August 2000
THE NEW YORK TIMES, 14 August 2000
Mourners, Egyptian Police Clash at Funeral
By Reuters
CAIRO (Reuters) - Crowds of mourners for the veteran leader of Egypt's biggest opposition party clashed with police on Saturday as they massed around a Cairo mosque on Saturday where funeral prayers were said.
A crowd of several hundred mourners charged lines of police wielding batons when the coffin was carried out of the mosque, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
Fouad Serag al-Din, who from 1942 to 1952 served as agriculture, interior and social affairs, transport and finance ministers, died in hospital on Wednesday at the age of 90 after suffering a heart attack.
Known in Egypt as the Pasha, Serag al-Din revived the modern day Wafd in 1978 when then-President Anwar Sadat reinstated limited parliamentary democracy, and he maintained a firm grip on the mainly secular party until his death.
Among Saturday's 2,000 mourners were Information Minister Safwat el-Sherif, Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour, People's Assembly Minister Kamal el-Shazli and prominent opposition figures including Mustafa Mashhour, leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Seif al-Islam Hassan al-Banna, son of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest and most influential Islamist movement, was one of those attending prayers inside the Mosque.
A select group of officials and journalists were allowed into the Omar
Makram Mosque in central Tahrir Square for the regular Muslim midday prayer followed by special funeral prayers, while hundreds of security police tried to contain rowdy crowds of mourners outside.
The general secretary of Wafd's Alexandria district chapter, Ehab
Zaghloul, told Reuters: ``This is not just the Wafd Party. This is the Egyptian people. We want democracy in Egypt.''
Many mourners held pictures of the late Wafd leader and chanted: ``There is no God but Allah, and Serag al-Din is his beloved.
Wafd's six seats won in the 1995 parliamentary elections are seen as under-representing the party's true popularity. President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party holds about 90 percent of the 444 elected seats.
Wafd, which has its own daily newspaper, now faces an uncertain future. A leadership battle between Serag al-Din's brother Yassin and official deputy leader Noeman Gomaa may loom.
About 200 people gathered later at the Basateen Cemetery, where Serag al-Din was buried amid continued tight security.
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1 Shahin "pasha" Serageldine
.. +Nabiha Badrawi
......... 2 Fouad "pasha" Serageldine
............. +Zakia M. Badrawi - 1967
.................... 3 Naila Serageldine - 2001
........................ +Mohsen Badrawi
............................... 4 Fouad Badrawi
................................... +Dejhane Aboulfetouh
........................................... 5 Sherif Fouad Badrawi
............................... 4 Nevine Badrawi
................................... +Tarek Kassem
........................................... 5 Mahmoud Kassem
........................................... 5 Naila Kassem
.................... 3 Faiza Serageldine
........................ +Samir Badrawi
............................... 4 Abdelaziz Badrawi
........................................... 5 Amr Badrawi
........................................... 5 Nadia Badrawi
.................... 3 Nadia Serageldine
........................ +Saiid Badrawi
............................... 4 Hassan Badrawi
.................... *2nd Husband of Nadia Serageldine:
........................ +Abdelatif el Kazmy
............................... 4 Tarek el Kazmy
.................... *3rd Husband of Nadia Serageldine:
........................ +Farouk Akl
......... 2 Yassin Serageldine
............. +Aida Mahmoud el Dib
.................... 3 Laila Serageldine - 2001
........................ +Magdi Kamal Sadek
............................... 4 Sherin Sadek
.................... 3 Mohammed Tarek Serageldine
.................... 3 Ahmed el Hadi Serageldine
.................... 3 Hoda Serageldine
........................ +Yehya Haidar
.................... 3 Serageldin Serageldine
.................... 3 Hebatullah Serageldine
......... *2nd Wife of Yassin Serageldine:
............. +Awatef
......... 2 Zaki Serageldine
......... 2 Nazli Serageldine
............. +Mohieldine Badrawi
......... 2 Gamil Serageldine
............. +XXX S. Badrawi
.................... 3 Ahmed Serageldine
......... 2 Abdelhamid Serageldine
......... 2 Sami Serageldine
......... 2 Zakia Serageldine - 1995
............. +Sami M. Badrawi
.................... 3 Hassan S. Badrawi
............................... 4 Ibrahim Badrawi
............................... 4 Amal Badrawi
................................... +Abdelmonsef Ahmed Abdelmonsef
.................... 3 Hussein S. Badrawi - 1995
........................ +Laila Zein Badrawi
............................... 4 Rawya Badrawi
................................... +Moussa Moustafa Moussa
........................................... 5 Mustafa Moussa
........................................... 5 Abnour Moussa
............................... 4 Iman Badrawi
.................... 3 Amal S. Badrawi
........................ +Fawzi El Sobahi
.................... 3 Soraya S. Badrawi
........................ +Medhat Serageldine
............................... 4 Iman Serageldine
................................... +Adel El Far
............................... 4 Samia Serageldine
................................... +Gaafar Ragab
............................... 4 Hanan Serageldine
................................... +Hisham Badawi
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