Intissar Amer (Madame al-Sisi): First Lady or Invisible Consort? The Many Styles of Egypt's First Ladies

The photo above shows a rare appearance of then-Field Marshal Sisi in public with his wife, Intissar Amer. It dispelled rumors that she wears he full veil, but indications so far re that she will keep a low public profile when she becomes Egypt's First Lady. During the Presidencies of Anwar Sadat and Husni Mubarak, when the title "First Lady" was applied as a semi-official title and the incumbents had a highly-visible public profile. made the President's wife a public figure on he world stage, but not all of Egypt's first ladies have been as high-profile  as Jehan Sadat and Suzanne Mubarak.

Under the monarchy, of  course, the queens had a high public profile. Fuad I's Queen, Nazli, and Farouq's Queens, Farida and, after their divorce, Nariman, were given the public roles due to royalty on the European model. Of Middle Eastern monarchies, Egypt and Jordan gave their queens high levels of publicity and  public role, unlike Morocco or the Arab Gulf monarchies. But there has been considerable variation since the fall of the monarchy. Omitting transitional and interim figures:

Muhammad Naguib's wife, ‘A'isha Muhammad Labib, who was at least his second wife, played no real public role and remains little known. Some references even give her the first name ‘Aziza.

Nasser and Tahia's Wedding

Gamal ‘Abdel Nasser's wife had a more public role, though not nearly as visible as her two successors. Tahia Kazem, also called Tahia ‘Abdel Nasser,was the daughter of an Iranian father and Egyptian-Iranian mother. She was frequently photographed with her husband and children but did not have the high profile public role of her two successors.

During Nasser's Presidency

Tahia, who died in 1990, wrote a memoir of her life with Nasser which was not intended for publication. It was finally published in 2011 in Arabic, and last year in English. She thus joined, belatedly, Jehan Sadat in publishing her memoirs.

Jehan Sadat

Anwar Sadat's wife, Jehan, became the first Egyptian First Lady to play a major role in public, and to achieve international fame.in her own right. Jehan Safwat Ra'ouf, better known as Jehan El Sadat, married Sadat in 1949, shortly after his divorce from his first wife, Iqbal Mahdi, by whom he had three daughters. Jehan was the teenaged daughter of an Egyptian doctor and his British wife. (Many Egyptians believe that her mother was actually Maltese, but public documents show her mother was from Sheffield, as she asserts in her memoir. Some suggest the Maltese rumor may have originated when the Free Officers did not want to seem linked to the British occupation.) During the Sadat years the term First Lady (al-Sayyida al-Ula) began to be regularly, if unofficially, used. After Sadat's assassination, Jehan worked to keep his legacy alive, in part through the Anwar Sadat Chair at the University of Maryland. where she is a senior fellow.

Suzanne Mubarak

Husni Mubarak's wife. Suzanne Thabet, officially known as Suzanne Mubarak, is, like her predecessor, the daughter of an Egyptian doctor and a British mother, in her case a Welsh nurse. Like her predecessor she had a high profile, founded or was patron of schools and charities, and is believed to have been a strong supporter that her younger son Gamal should succeed his father. She was reported to be writing her memoirs before the Revolution broke out, and after the revolution Rose al-Youssef published what it claimed were excerpts, but many believe these, such as other leaks purporting to be her husbands memoirs, are a hoax.The source is highly dubious, to be generous.

Muhammad Morsi's wife, Nagla' ‘Ali Mahmoud, was a striking departure from her two fashionable predecessors. She wore the hijab, flatly refused to be called First Lady (saying she preferred "Umm Ahmad"), but she did give occasional interviews and discuss her role.

Which brings us to Madame Sisi, Intissar Amer. Sisi has said that they met in secondary school and he married her on graduation from the Military Academy in 1977. She is said to dislike public appearances and has not pursued a career, preferring to raise her family. She does not dress as conservatively as rumors speculated, but modestly, at least based on that one photo, but from what is known of her she is likelier to follow the Tahia Nasser model than the Jehan Sadat or Suzanne Mubarak one.

Court Clears Shalit Deal: Transfer Tomorrow

Israel's High Court has rejected an attempt by survivors of victims of terrorism to block the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. That should set the stage for Shalit's release tomorrow morning: timeline of the exchange here.

Mahmoud Salem on Recent Egyptian Events

The frequently provocative and acerbic blogger who blogs as Rantings of a Sandmonkey, but who no longer has to blog anonymously,  has a lengthy, sort of portmanteau post up which he calls "Bits and Pieces," and which deals with a wide range of issues preoccupying Egypt in recent weeks, from the SCAF to the Islamist Friday to the Mubarak trial.to the future course of the revolution, to demonstrating during Ramadan. It's wide-ranging and worth reading, whether you share his particular views or not.

Read it all, but I think his take on the Mubarak trial is probably pretty close to the mark::

Did you watch the Mubarak trial? Didn’t you like how they added the Mubarak Case and the MOI case together for the first day, so you can see all the people you despise in one Holding Cell? Yeah, that wasn’t done to psychologically manipulate you at all.

Also, please watch it every day. It will only take 3 years, and if Mubarak isn’t dead by then, he will face house-arrest until he dies and will never see the inside of a jail cell. His sons, on the other hand, will get 3-5 years sentences topsand then leave the country to retire in Switzerland or something. Habib Aladly will be executed, of course.

Personally, after the first day, I am done with it. What will happen next will be a legal fiasco and a political circus. Not interested in either.

(Habib al-Adly is the former and much-hated Minister of the Interior.)

The Decision to Prosecute the Mubaraks

The decision to refer Husni Mubarak and his two sons for trial on a variety of charges, including in the former President's case the killing of protesters, will no doubt please many of the young demonstrators that brought him down, but will sit less comfortably, I suspect, with the very-much-still-present remnants of the Establishment, not least the Army. While many Egyptians applauded his removal and would welcome recovery of any misappropriated funds, I suspect not all will welcome a public trial of an 83-year-old former President and onetime war hero. I worry that instead of uniting the country it will more deeply divide it, especially if (as the charges of murder would permit) they seek to pursue this as a capital case. There is already a backlash against the revolution among many of the old guard, and this may actually strengthen their hand.

. . . And All the King's Men

Although the interrogation of the Mubarak family has gotten all the attention outside Egypt, the net is gradually widening as more and more senior officials of the former Cabinet and former Ruling Party are being investigated for corruption and other related charges such as misappropriation of public funds. Most are held at Tora (Tura) prison, notorious for holding political prisoners under the old regime. Jokes are spreading about whole cabinet meetings of ex-officials now being possible at Tora.

Latest is word that the former Minister of Petroleum, Samih Fahmi, is being investigated.

Besides Mubarak, his wife (who has been questioned but not detained) and two sons (both of whom are detained), the roundup so far includes:

The former Interior Minister, Habib al-‘Adly, was one of the first to be arrested back in February. Industrialist Ahmad ‘Ezz, a key figure in the ruling party and ally of Gamal Mubarak's. Safwat Sharif, head of the Shura Council (Upper House) and key figure in the ruling party for decades, is also jailed; so is the former Presidential Chief of Staff, Zakaria ‘Azmi. The former Prime Minister, Ahmad Nazif, was detained just before the Mubaraks.

The former Ministers of Tourism,  Housing, and Industry and Trade are also either jailed or outside the country, and the former Finance Minister under investigation.

At this point it is hard to know how the fall of the old elite will finally conclude. The decision to go after the Mubaraks has cheered many of the young revolutionaries but worries others who might have preferred a Reconciliation model (a la South Africa) instead of vengeance against a man about to turn 83.

There is an unspoken limitation to the investigations so far. They have penetrated into the senior Cabinet, the Mubarak family itself, and even the powerful internal security establishment. But, despite the nominal independence of the Prosecutor General's office, they have not touched the Armed Forces, which, however, has extensive economic investments and influence as well.  As long as the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has anything to say about it, the Armed Forces remain off limits.

Interrogating the Mubaraks

Word that Husni Mubarak and his two sons will be held in 15 days detention while being interrogated on corruption and other charges is drawing a lot of attention today. Mubarak himself remains hospitalized in Sharm al-Sheikh, but the sons have reportedly been transferred to a pri8son in Cairo. The Egyptian legal system permits detention without charge for 15 days during an interrogation.

There seems to be a lot of skepticism about how far the ruling military council will pursue the matter (as well as about Mubarak's hospitalization yesterday). But the announcement does, at least temporarily, defuse demands that the Mubaraks be prosecuted.

There are negatives too, however. I can see how other beleaguered heads of state (Salih in Yemen for example) could see the potential of prosecution as one reason not to step down. Ben Ali in Tunisia avoided the issue by fleeing to Saudi Arabia, but Mubarak, by remaining in Egypt, was gambling the Army would protect him. It still may do so; no charges have yet been filed.

Lost Causes 101: A Gamal Mubarak Candidacy?

Supporters of Gamal Mubarak are organizing to promote him as a candidate for the Egyptian Presidency.

Outside his circle of young, nouveaux riches businessmen, there was never much evidence of popular support for Gamal. Of course, in those days "one man, one vote" meant one man (Gamal's father) had the only vote. Now that there's a broader field in play, I think Gamal has more to worry about from having his bank accounts investigated than running a campaign.

Egyptian Male Naming Patterns: A Cultural Note

A cultural aside prompted by events in Egypt. When I first lived in Egypt back in the 1970s, in those remote eras before Husni Mubarak was even President yet, I eventually started to wonder why so many men in their 50s seemed to be named Saad, while relatively few of the males my age were. Eventually I asked a couple (a used bookseller and another acquaintance in that age group), and realized they were presumably all, as these two were, named after Saad Zaghloul Pasha. I also noted a lot of younger men and boys born in the 1950s and 1960s, named Gamal. Obviously after Nasser. I suspect this includes the late-40-something former banker who has apparently taken up residence in London this week and whose political prospects are now nil.

A question for more recent Egypt hands: in the last 30 years, when my visits have usually been under a week and have not allowed thorough research on this abstruse onomastic issue, has there been a wave of Husnis born, or, as I suspect, not outside the ruling circles?

I also like an excuse to say "onomastic." Not a word I get to use every day: relating to the study of proper names, to save you the trouble of Googling.

Oh, and for now, I intend to fly the flag in the Egypt posts.

Gamal Makes Nothing Very Clear

Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party finally and belatedly held its Annual Conference, postponed until after the Parliamentary elections, last week. Pressed by reporters, Gamal Mubarak made nothing very clear at all about next year's Presidential elections: they'll be in September and the NDP will choose its nominee by July. We pretty much knew that.

So it looks like the question of which Mubarak will run is as unclear as ever.

Wikileaks Does Egypt

Last week I made clear I have reservations about the whole Wikileaks enterprise, but also criticized the notion that once documents have been published, one should somehow ignore them as the US is urging government employees to do. The last couple of days' releases have started to include a number related to the Egyptian succession, a subject of continuing interest on this blog. Most are cables from the Ambassadorships of Francis Ricciardone (2005-2008) and Margaret Scobey (2008-present). Among some of interest:

• A 2009 profile of Mubarak senior;
  

• Ricciardone on Gamal in 2006;

• A 2010 discussion of succession;

• A 2007 comparison of the Sadat succession with the present situation.

• A 2008 Ricciardone conversation with Mubarak which includes the following characterization of Gamal:

Mubarak also offered insights into the character of his younger son, Gamal, whom he described as a perfectionist from childhood. "As a schoolboy, if I gave him a notebook with one line that was not straight, he would throw a fit and demand a new one," Mubarak laughed. Furthermore, Gamal is "idealistic" and "punctual." Mubarak added, "If he (Gamal) says, 'meet me for lunch at 2:00,' he means 2:00. Set your watch by it."

I think that these cables bear out what I've said previously: classified or not, there's not much new here for those who've been discussing this stuff for years, though the personal anecdote is both a nice touch and makes Gamal seem a bit strange. The potential successors, the personalities involved, etc. are all pretty well known. But it's interesting to see it in an official document, of course.

More Thoughts on Another Mubarak Term

Amr El Shobaki in Al-Masry al-Youm ponders, "Will Mubarak Run Again in 2011?"

Rather as I did, he does not take Ali Eddin Hilal's recent expression of confidence that the President will seek a sixth term as definitive. He notes:

Helal's uncertain statements about Gamal’s prospects in fact tell us more about the current political situation than his seemingly conclusive remarks about Mubarak’s re-nomination . Helal’s latest pronouncement will certainly open the door for all kinds of speculation about the future. But of all the possible scenarios that can unfold next year, Mubarak’s re-nomination now seems the least likely.

Now one element, clearly, has been the clear lack of popular enthusiasm for the prospect of a Gamal Mubarak succession. If the recent wave of pro-Gamal posters were a trial balloon, they seem to have been a leaden one. Husni Mubarak may not be the charismatic speaker that Gamal Abdel Nasser was, but Gamal tends to come across as having all the charisma of a banker, which is what he was before he started to dabble in politics. And, since his father has not personally indicated he won't run, Gamal can't seem too eager. So the poster campaigns are done by his allies in the Party leadership, presumably.

Many Egyptian commentators have noted that after his trip to Washington with his father, Gamal stopped making public appearances. Some think this is another sign that the inheritance project has failed. I'm guessing it's a bit early to write Gamal off completely, but note two things:

1. Gamal is by no means the unanimous choice of the entire leadership of the National Democratic Party. The "Old Guard" of the NDP has shown no outward enthusiasm; Gamal's business cronies and younger allies in the Party leadership seem to be the core of his support.
2. As I and everyone else have noted frequently, no one is going to be anointed the successor without the (at least tacit) approval of the Armed Forces and the security services. Yet those bodies, never very talkative to begin with, have been utterly silent on Gamal. A combination of a belief that the country needs a military President (an idea that has appeal to many beyond the uniformed services: see my comments on the ‘Orabi theme) and doubts about a civilian with few obvious qualifications other than his name may be at work here, though no one really is certain. What is clear is there's no bandwagon for Gamal in the uniformed services. (Some have hinted that State Security, in the Interior Ministry, is more pro-Gamal than the Army, but if they have evidence it isn't very visible.)

So, arguably, Gamal's star is fading, or at least refusing to rise, and Hilal's statement may be more a reassurance of continuity than a real statement of probability. Once the Parliamentary elections are past (November 28), the countdown for the Presidential elections will begin.

Lately some Israeli media have picked up on older speculation that ‘Omar Suleiman might be named Vice President, succeed for a year or so, and then hand off to Gamal. That strikes me as a fantasy. If a military man succeeds, even temporarily, Gamal is history. His power base goes when his father goes.

NDP Official: Mubarak will Run for Sixth Term

Ali Eddin Hilal, a senior official of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party, has told AlHurra that Husni Mubarak will run for a sixth term next year, dismissing the idea that Gamal would succeed him. The BBC reports the story here; but if you read the version at Al-Masry al-Youm, you'll see thsat the goes on to talk about Egypt being a system of institutions not of personalities, that a stable succession system is in place, etc. All of which could suggest — as people quoted in the story do — that this is all for show and that at the last minute Mubarak can step aside if he chooses. We shall see. After the Parliamentary elections, the Presidential issue should start to gather momentum.

Two Views on Gamal Mubarak

I'm still busy, so a couple of reading assignments for you: a couple of days ago Tarek Masoud posted a piece on the Foreign Policy Middle East Channel entitled "Is Gamal Mubarak the best Hope for Egyptian Democracy?" (Before you make the jokes, read his argument. I don't buy it, but it's not an outrageous position to take.) Now Issandr El Amrani in Al-Masry al-Youm has responded with "The Case Against the Case for Gamal Mubarak," which takes on the argument directly.

Egyptian Non-Campaign Gets Dirtier: Trying to Smear ElBaradei

As I was enjoying the last three-day weekend of summer (Labor Day here in the US), the Egyptian campaign for the Presidency (which, of course, doesn't exist, there being no official candidates) got dirtier. In the wake of Gamal Mubarak accompanying his father to Washington (the Egyptian Foreign Minister has denied Israeli press reports that "Jimmy" met with Bibi Netanyahu) and the curious wave of ‘Omar Suleiman posters around Cairo, somebody (I wonder who?) leaked the private Facebook photos of Layla ElBaradei, Mohamed ElBaradei's daughter, by posting them on an open Facebook group, leading to their publication in some Egyptian newspapers. Since her privacy settings are reportedly intact, either her page has been hacked or one of her Facebook friends leaked the screenshots and photos. So far more Egyptians and others seem offended by the violation of family privacy than by anything in the photos.

The leaked photos themselves are here. I link not to further the smear campaign but so readers can see what the fuss is about (and how innocent the pictures are: safe for work unless you work for the Taliban). Though captioned "ElBaradei's Family Secrets," they're not particularly shocking: mostly wedding photos of her marriage to her British husband, and some beach photos where she's in a relatively modest bathing suit. But in increasingly puritanical Egypt the presence of apparent wine glasses at the wedding reception, and the swimsuit photos, as well as a party photo of her and female friends with champagne bottles, may cause some scandal, as could a screenshot of her Facebook Info page in which her political views are listed as "very liberal" and her religion as "agnostic." She's obviously not running for office, and her views may not be shared by her father, and her Facebook page was supposed to be private anyway.

ElBaradei has accused the government of being behind the campaign, which seems to be a widespread assumption. His National Association for Change says it will take legal action.

The Muslim Brotherhood backed ElBaradei on this, saying the following:

Given the realities of modern political campaigning, it should come as no surprise that the candidates most likely to use negative ads are the ones who feel most challenged . . .

However, there has been speculations such allegations may have been initiated by the Egyptian security apparatus, in an effort to influence the public negatively toward El Baradei, playing on both their emotional and spiritual stance. It may have also been seen as a shot to weaken the stance of the popular political opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, which supports El Baradei in his appeal for political change, but it will not tolerate such allegedly unislamic behavior. If this proves to be the fact, it will reveal that security is bidding on the publics' religious & sentimental values.

Undoubtedly, for most Egyptians, choosing a ruler whose criminal security apparatus focuses on beating and killing civilians, and who shows no regards to human rights, freedom and dignity is far more than dangerous than electing the father of a bikini-clad daughter.

A lot of bloggers are making similar points, and the violation of a family's privacy seems to have offended many; the ruling National Democratic Party has distanced itself from the affair. Blogger Zeinobia wants ElBaradei to slap somebody. The breach of etiquette seems more controversial than any wine glass on a table.

Egypt isn't used to down-and-dirty electoral politics, at least above the local constituency level where real competition does sometimes occur; with the uncertainty about the 2011 Presidential elections, there's something like a campaign going on, but without a lot of precedent or legal underpinning. The Suleiman posters remain a puzzle. The smear on ElBaradei not only involves an invasion of privacy (were there wine or champagne bottles at Gamal Mubarak's wedding? No one knows: no pictures ever were published), but also attacks the man for his (adult, married) daughter's alleged behavior/religious leanings, and thus crosses all sorts of lines, including hitting at him through a female member of his family. The fact that the group that would normally have most objected to the pictures and information page, the Muslim Brotherhood, has denounced the whole ploy, suggests that whoever was behind this has miscalculated. If this was indeed an attempt by State Security or Gamal's supporters to smear ElBaradei, it may have backfired.

Saad Ibrahim Clarifies Position

Saad Eddin Ibrahim has issued a statement through his Ibn Khaldun Center website "clarifying" his position on the succession following extensive criticism in opposition circles of his signing the proxy for Gamal Mubarak. It includes the following (emphasis is in the original):

While I uphold the right of all Egyptian citizens to run for office, I have also made known my own personal preferences in terms of the currently announced and widely speculated potential candidates for the office of President. I have clearly stated my personal preference for Dr. Muhammad El-Baradei, as I believe he is the person most capable of leading the transition to democracy in Egypt. He is followed in this respect by Dr. Ayman Nour and others. Gamal Mubarak, however, is not on my own personal list of preferred candidates.

I'm not sure this will dampen the controversy, but it is fairly clear.

And Now, ‘Omar Suleiman Posters

Now posters are appearing in Cairo promoting ‘Omar Suleiman for President. You'll recall that as long ago as last summer, a website sprung up promoting the idea.

The "anonymous" group prmoting Suleiman remain a matter fof speculation: are they just anti-Gamal, or is there some genuine effort by the army or the security services to influence the succession? The fact that Suleiman still has his job suggests either that he's not behind it, or that the regime may not be as committed to the Gamal succession as most people think. I suspect the former.

The idea of Suleiman as a transitional figure probably appeals to some in the US government as well, but it's hard to see a career intelligence man as a democratizing figure. (Though to be fair, General Intelligence has a far better reputation than State Security, which is under Interior Minister Habib al-‘Adly and is the really feared agency.)

Is Gamal Coming to the Summit?

Ha'aretz is reporting that Gamal Mubarak is accompanying his father to the Israeli-Palestinian direct talks in Washington this week, which Husni Mubarak and King ‘Abdullah of Jordan are attending. If this occurs, and particularly if Gamal meets with the Israeli delegates, it would seem to confirm that his father intends for him to succeed. Certrainly the proxy campaign for Gamal, the appearance of pro-Gamal posters, etc. have all seemed to point the same way, but officially there has been no indication that the elder Mubarak will not seek another term. If this is true, it could be the point where the denials stop.

Stranger and Stranger: Saad Ibrahim Signs Gamal Mubarak Proxy

Okay, this gave me a double-take and then a triple-take: Saad Eddin Ibrahim has signed a proxy supporting the nomination of Gamal Mubarak for the Presidency.

Yes, I checked and it's not April 1. Yes, that's really him in the picture, and there are lots more pics of the signing at Al-Yawm al-Sabi‘ as well as an account (Arabic).

The AP account notes that he says he didn't "endorse" Gamal, he only supported his right as a citizen to run. This Al-Masry al-Youm report calls him "the most prominent opponent of tawrith" (the passing of the Presidency from father to son), and quotes him as saying he supports every Egyptian's right to run for the Presidency, and has also signed a proxy for Mohamed ElBaradei. (Link is in Arabic.) Perhaps it really is a statement for pluralism.

Yet he also gave the pro-Gamal forces a huge PR coup; he's savvy enough to know they would play this up heavily. Hassan Nafaa, a backer of ElBaradei, was quoted in the AP report as saying: "He's either lost his mind or there is a deal with the ruling regime . . . This is a miserable fall for Saad and no one is going to believe him anymore."

Naturally one wonders if this was some sort of quid-pro-quo for his being allowed to return to Egypt from exile earlier this month. He's long been a critic of tawrith, and he's long been outspoken, even to the point of going to prison and going into exile, so a sellout to the regime doesn't seem likely. I'm reserving judgment for now; I've known Saad on and off for years and am not sure if he was really trying to make a point or what, but it seems clear the Gamal folks are going to milk this for all it's worth.

If you missed it while I was away, Issandr El Amrani's weekly column for Al-Masry al-Youm English last week was about "Gamal Mubarak's Non-Campaign" and opened with the words, "How strange Egyptian politics are becoming." He can say that again; I'll eagerly await his take on this, and post more as I see it.

Gamal's Hopes

A few links on the issue of Gamal Mubarak:

• Amr el-Shobaki in Al-Masry al-Youm on Gamal's latest charm offensive, in which he has met with students and actually let them ask questions;
• defaced posters promoting Gamal;
• The opposition paper al-Dostour ran a headline with Egypt's four Presidents (not neglecting Muhammad Naguib for once), all shown (intentionally?) in military uniform, with a question-mark over who's next; they've also reported that Gamal's business supporters are pushing for Mubarak senior to step down.

Things are picking up speed. Gamal's putative candidacy, which seemed to be foundering, is still not clearly secure (the military and security services remaining the big unanswered question), but there's clearly a solid push, however elitist, to promote him. Of course, Daddy hasn't yet said he's not running, but the health rumors persist.

Anti-Gamal Posters in Cairo

Activists in Cairo described by Al-Masry al-Youm as followers of Ayman Nour have been chased through the streets of Cairo by police for posting the posters shown here: A "No" symbol over a picture of Gamal Mubarak with the slogan Misr kabira ‘alayk, translated in the article as "Egypt is too big for you," though "too great for you" or even "greater than you" would not be off base either.