Former MENA chief editor says Ashraf Marawan 'patriotic'

Ashraf Marawan, former president Gamal Abdel Nasser's son-in-law, was a patriotic man, stressed former chairman and editor in chief of the Middle East News Agency (MENA) Abdullah Hassan.

In an interview with Rosa El Youssef Magazine, Hassan, who is also the first undersecretary of the National Press Authority, pointed out to Marawan’s role in deceiving Israel during the October 6 War in 1973.

"Marawan had greatly served Egypt, but it is not time to make his services public," Hassan said, adding that Marawan’s spy work was shrouded in secrecy that former intelligence chief Amin Hweidi knew nothing about it.

"Late president Anwar Al Sadat kept it secret and just informed his deputy Hosni Mubarak about it," he said.

Ashraf Marawan deceived the Israelis in 1973 by informing them different times set for the war, MENA's former editor in chief Abdullah Hassan said in his interview with Rosa El Youssef Magazine.

"Initially, he told them the war would be in late September, then informed them the war was postponed to October 2 and later told them October 5 was set for the war and in the evening of October 5 he called them to tell them he had important information and asked for 100,000 dollars in return," Hassan said.

"He already met with the Mossad chief and told him the offensive would be on October 6 with the sunset," he said, adding that the military norms at the time saw that the attack would be with either the sunrise or the sunset.

The Egyptian Armed Forces saw that the four hours between the real time of the war (2 p.m.) and the false time was enough to end the first mission of the Air Force, he added.

The accurate information is this regard was that then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir doubted the loyalty of Marwan, but the Mossad fully trusted him, he said.

Israeli aircraft flew near the Suez Canal to monitor the Egyptian forces, and they found that officers and soldiers were in full relaxation, he added.

After the October war, Marawan stopped his relation with the Israeli intelligence and late president Sadat’s assignments came to end, Hassan said.

Source: MENA