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HT This Day: December 29, 1948 -- Nokrashy Pasha assassinated
Nokrashy Pasha, the Egyptian Prime Minister, was assassinated today. The shooting occurred near an elevator in the Ministry of the Interior building at about 8 a.m.
Nokrashy Pasha, the Egyptian Prime Minister, was assassinated today. The shooting occurred near an elevator in the Ministry of the Interior building at about 8 a.m.
The assassin fired six shots at point-blank range. The first two shots hit Nokrashy in the face and chest, and as he collapsed on the floor, the assassin poured four more shots into him, killing him outright.
A strong police cordon was thrown round the building and all inside the building were detained for inquiry.
The assailant has been arrested. The police identified him as Abdul Majid Ahmed Hasan, a student of the Faculty of Medicine at Fuad University, Cairo. He is believed to be owing allegiance to the Moslem Brotherhood, which the Government banned last month. . .
Abdul Majid, it is stated, tried to commit suicide by shooting himself, but was arrested before he could take his life.
According to first reports, the assassin, a tall fair young man, was seen loitering in the building before Nokrashy arrived with his A.D.C. The young man wore the uniform of a first lieutenant. The guards wanted to question him, but they were prevented by a policeman. “Leave him alone. Don’t you see he is a police officer,” the policeman is stated to have remarked.
Nokrashy mounted the first flight of stairs and met the disguised student near the lift. The assailant saluted him and immediately whipped a revolver from his pocket and fired six shots at the Prime Minister.
The Egyptian Cabinet held an emergent session today.
A statement issued after the incident said: “Premier Nokrashy was assassinated by a criminal hand at the Ministry of the Interior. He died when the country needed him most needed his sincere patriotism, exceptional bravery, wide experience, rare understanding and honesty. He fell a victim while on his way to carry out official duties in the service of his Fatherland and King.”
Nokrashy is the third Egyptian Prime Minister to be assassinated while in office. The first was Butros Ghali Pasha in February 1910. The second was Dr Ahmed Maher Pasha. He was assassinated on February 24, 1945, while announcing Egypt’s declaration of war on Germany and Japan.
Other recent assassinations include:
Lord Moyne, British Minister Resident, in November, 1944.
Amin Osman Pasha, former Wafd Nationalist Finance Minister, in January, 1946.
Ahmed Khalindar Bey, Vice-President of the National Court of Appeal, in March, 1948.
Born in Cairo in 1888, Nokrashy Pasha studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure du Cairo and later at Nottingham University, England.
At the age of 21 he was appointed Resident Headmaster of an Alexandria school. At 26 he became Headmaster of a school in Cairo, and in 1920 he became Joint Director of the Administrative Section of the Ministry of Agriculture.
He entered politics in 1921 and took an active part in the nationalist movement, where he was soon noticed by Sand Zaghloul Pasha, the Nationalist leader.
Nokrashy held various ministerial posts before he became Premier in 1945 following the assassination of Dr Ahmed Maher Pasha. In 1930 he was the Minister of Communications which portfolio he held again in 1936. He was a member of the Wafdist Party until January 1938 when he was expelled. He was later elected Deputy leader of the Saadist (Dissident Wafdist) Party. Nokrashy resigned the Premiership in February 1946 after the students riots. He was succeeded by sidky Pasha. who in turn resigned in Nokrashy’s favour in December the same year.
Nokrashy’s tenure of office during the past two years has been marked by major developments. He strongly campaigned for a revision of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 and called for withdrawal of British troops from Egypt and the complete independence of the Nile Valley. His cabinet fell in February 1946, but when he became Premier again in December 1946, he took up the treaty question again. Negotiations with Britain broke down in January 1947. Later that year, he presented Egypt’s case against Britain to the U.N. Security Council but without success.
Lately, Nokrashy had supported the Arab League policy in Palestine, although favouring the truce proposed by the Security Council soon after the outbreak of fighting. Very recently he banned the Moslem Brotherhood and its office-bearers were arrested on the grounds that they had been actively fomenting terror
