Zakaria Azmi ( ar, زكريا عزمي; born June 26 1938) is the former chief of presidential staff in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Zakaria Azmi was the National Democratic Party's (NDP) deputy for el-Zeitoun district in eastern

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and chief of the presidential staff. He had joined the NDP following its establishment in 1978, was elected to the People's Assembly in 1987 and appointed chief of the presidential staff in 1989. Azmi was one of the army officers who supported late Egyptian president

Anwar el-Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

in his conflict with

Nasserist Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic a ...

rivals in 1971. This earned him the post of manager of the office of the presidential chief of staff in 1975.Zakaria Azmi: a parliamentary phenomenon
''

Al-Ahram Weekly ''Al-Ahram Weekly'' is an English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt. History and profile ''Al Ahram Weekly'' was established in 1991 by the '' Al-Ahram'' newspaper, which also runs a French-la ...

''. 2000-09-20. He became more involved in politics when he was elected in 1979 as deputy chairman of the Cairo Municipal Council. His overtly critical approach in People's Assembly debates led many observers to dub him "the representative of the NDP opposition wing in parliament". Azmi spoke against the terms of US economic grants to Egypt, corruption in city councils and pollution in Cairo. For example, in May 1997, Azmi was involved in a confrontation with Mohamed Abul-Enein, a businessman appointed by President Mubarak to parliament. The showdown was described by newspapers as "a confrontation between money and power". Newspapers also said that Azmi had "become a parliamentary phenomenon". Azmi was promoted to the NDP's secretariat-general in 1993. He served as deposed president

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

's chief of staff from 1989 until his deposition during the

2011 Egyptian Revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

. Azmi is considered by Egyptians to have been an influential figure in Mubarak's regime and participants and supporters of the revolution demanded he be tried. On April 7, 2011, Egyptian state prosecutors ordered that he be jailed for fifteen days pending a corruption investigation.Mubarak's former chief of staff arrested
''

Al-Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

''. 2011-04-07.

References

Living people National Democratic Party (Egypt) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Egypt) People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 1938 births {{Egypt-politician-stub