Sharawi Gomaa (1920–1988) was an Egyptian military officer who served in various posts, including governor of Suez, deputy prime minister and

minister of interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

, during the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

. He was part of the May Group who were removed from the office by Anwar Sadat in May 1971.

Biography

Gomaa was born in 1920. He graduated from the Military College. He obtained a master's degree in military sciences 1951. Then he worked as a teacher at the Military College. Gomaa was part of the Free Officers movement's left-wing faction. He joined the General Intelligence Directorate serving as its deputy director between 1957 and 1961. When the

Arab Nationalist Movement The Arab Nationalist Movement ( ar, حركة القوميين العرب, ''Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al-Arab''), also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Ar ...

(ANM) had disputes with the Syrians and the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

was dissolved in 1961 the ANM developed direct ties with Egypt. Gomaa coordinated the operations of the ANM as part of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate. Gomaa was appointed governor of

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...

in 1961 which he held until 1964. He joined the

Arab Socialist Union The Arab Socialist Union may refer to: *Arab Socialist Union (Egypt), active 1962–78 *Arab Socialist Union (Iraq), active 1964–68 *Libyan Arab Socialist Union, active 1971−77 *Arab Socialist Union Party (Syria), founded in 1973 *Democratic Ar ...

in 1962 and was made a member of its secretariat in November 1964. Gomaa was named as the minister of interior and deputy prime minister in 1966. He replaced

Zakaria Mohieddin Zakaria Mohieddin (5 July 1918 – 15 May 2012) ( ar, زكريا محيي الدين, ) was an Egyptian military officer, politician, Prime Minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence D ...

as interior minister. Gomaa was named as the minister of interior in a cabinet reshuffle in May 1968. During his term as interior minister he established the Police Cadets Institute in late 1960s. he was the secretary general of the Arab Socialist Union in 1969 and was part of its secret unit, the Socialist Vanguard (Arabic: al-Tanzim al-Tali‘i), which was also called the Vanguard Organization. This unit was established in 1963 and was headed by Gomaa and

Sami Sharaf Sami Sharaf (20 April 1929 – 23 January 2023) was an Egyptian military officer who held various posts during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser. His public roles ended in May 1971 when he was arrested and then imprisoned by the Egyptian autho ...

. As of 1971 Gomaa was one of the Vanguard secretariat's ten members. Gomaa resigned from his post as interior minister with other Nasser supporters in the cabinet on 13 May 1971. These officials are called the May Group. Following this incident Gomaa was arrested and tried due to his alleged participation in the planned coup against Sadat. The reason for the arrest of Gomaa and others such as Sami Sharaf was that they had been supported by the ASU, the leftist figures affiliated with the '' Al Tali'a'' magazine, and the business elites. Gomaa was sentenced to death, but in December 1971 his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. Gomaa was an anti-communist and supported the establishment of a capitalist state. However, he was one of the Egyptian officials who preferred to get support from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, particularly after the defeat of Egypt in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

in 1967. He died on 28 November 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomaa, Sharawi 1920 births 1988 deaths Arab Socialist Union (Egypt) politicians Egyptian anti-communists Egyptian Military Academy alumni Egyptian prisoners sentenced to death Interior Ministers of Egypt Egyptian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment