Rifaat El Mahgoub (, ; 23 April 1926 – 12 October 1990) was an

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

politician who was serving as speaker of the House of Representatives of Egypt until his

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

in 1990. He was a member of the then ruling National Democratic Party.

Early life and education

Mahgoub was born in

Damietta Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Cath ...

on 23 April 1926. He received a law degree from

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

in 1949. Then he obtained a PhD in economics from the Sorbonne.

Career

Under Naser's administration, Mahgoub took part in the preparatory committee and also participated in the Socialist Union as an official representing the universities. On 21 November 1959, he was appointed a member of the Socialist Union's Executive Bureau for the Cairo Governorate. In 1962 when he was selected to the membership of the charter preparation committee. In the national congress of 1962 he said: "Those who fear freedom are the fiercest enemies of freedom. Fear of freedom is an unforgivable crime". According to his interview in 1984 his disagreement with Naser's administration was over the freedom of the university. He withdrew from political action in May 1967 and went to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

where he worked as a professor at the Arab University of Beirut from 1968 until 1970 in the School of Economics. Purging the government, political and security establishments of the Nasserists, Anwar al-Sadat invited Mahgoub to take part in the Infitah policy phase and he took a series of teaching positions at

, eventually becoming dean of the faculty of Economics and Political Sciences in 1971.Arab republic of egypt the people's assembly http://www.parliament.gov.eg/EPA/en/Levels.jsp?levelid=98&levelno=3&parentlevel=80. On 2 October 1972, he was appointed by then President Anwar al-Sadat minister for presidential affairs. On 25 May 1975, he was appointed chairman of the committee supervising the restructuring of the Socialist Union's organizations, beginning with the bottom bases. Also in 1975, he was appointed deputy prime minister. But later he withdrew from political action again because of the methods of Sadat's administration. In 1977, Mahgoub drafted for Sadat a memorandum entitled "The New Course of the Open-door Intellectual, Political and Economic Policy". Later he had the opportunity to supervise the establishment of the

Multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...

system. After Sadat's assassination at the hands of Islamic militants, Mahgoub was invited to join the new administration. In February 1984, he announced his accession to the National Party and its Parliamentary Committee. In July 1984, he was elected speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, position he held until his assassination on 12 October 1990.

Death

On 13 October 1990, el-Mahgoub was shot dead while in his car on the streets of Cairo.

Perpetrators

Ahmad Isma'il 'Uthman Saleh, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar, Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya and Mohamed Hassan Tita were all renditioned from

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to Egypt, with the cooperation of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, accused of participating in the assassination, as well as a later plot against the Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo. Victoria Advocate
Bombings connect to mysterious arrests
13 August 1998 Their capture and torture were listed as the main reasons for the US embassies bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Works

1. "The Actual Demand" for which he received the Egyptian State Incentive Award in 1963. 2. "Public Finances" 3. "Economic Development in Egypt" 4. "Socialism" 5. "National Sensitivities" 6. "Interest Rate and Balance"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahgoub, Rifaat 1926 births 1990 deaths Assassinated Egyptian politicians Deaths by firearm in Egypt National Democratic Party (Egypt) politicians People from Damietta People murdered in Egypt Speakers of the Parliament of Egypt Terrorism deaths in Egypt Vice-presidents of Egypt 20th-century Egyptian people 1990 murders in Egypt African politicians assassinated in the 1990s Politicians assassinated in 1990 Assassinated legislative speakers