Saturday, October 25, 2014

30 years later, questions remain over Sadat killing, peace with Israel


Egyptian President Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated during an annual parade in October 1981.

(CNN) -- October 6, 1981, remains etched in the minds of Egyptians who witnessed the assassination of President Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat at the hands of four military officers during an annual parade celebrating the anniversary of Egypt's 1973 war with Israel.
In 1979, Sadat signed the Camp David peace treaty with Israel that won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the fury of many Arabs who accused him of betraying their cause.
In a tribute to the former "hero of war and peace," as the inscription on his grave reads, Egyptian State TV ran footage Thursday of the assassination, depicting the moment Sadat stood in the pavilion saluting his killers while they fired at him as French Mirage fighters screeched over the parade grounds as part of the festivities.
Khaled El Islambouly, the lead gunman, was captured and executed.
Sadat's bullet-riddled body was rushed to the Maadi Military Hospital and the president was proclaimed dead at 2.40 p.m. due to "intense nervous shock and internal bleeding in the chest cavity."
Talaat El Sadat, a former member of parliament and the nephew of the slain president, recalls the details of that grim day.
"The president thought the killers were part of the show when they approached the stands firing, so he stood saluting them," El Sadat told CNN.



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