Rashad Mehanna

Infobox Officeholder
name = Rashad Mehanna
office = Minister of Transport
term_start = 30 July 1952
term_end = 20 August 1952
primeminister = Ali Maher
office2 = Regent of Egypt
term_start2 = 20 August 1952
term_end2 = 14 October 1952
monarch2 = Fuad II
birth_date = Birth date | 1909 | 10 | 2 | df=yes
birth_place = Koom Hamada, Egypt
death_date = Death date and age|1996|1|3|1909|10|2|df=yes
nationality = Egyptian
alma_mater = Egyptian Military Academy
profession = Officer
religion = Sunni Islam
branch = Artillery of the Egyptian Army
rank = Colonel

Rashad Mehanna (Lang-ar|رشاد مهنا) (2 October 1909 - 3 January 1996) was an Egyptian colonel who played a significant role in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Early life

Mehanna was born to an Azharite father in the "markaze" of Koom Hamada in the Beheira Governorate. As a child, he studied at a Quranic school, then went to primary school in Tanta and obtained his high school diploma in 1928. He initially went to medical school, but dropped out and joined the Egyptian Military Academy. He graduated in 1932 and joined the artillery branch of the Egyptian Army.

Mehanna travelled to the United Kingdom in 1937 on a military scholarship, then returned a year later in order to work as a teacher at the Artillery School. He was the first Egyptian officer to specialize in air defense.

Between 1946 and 1947, Mehanna helped Mohammad Amin al-Husayni who had proclaimed jihad in Palestine. Along with other officers, he provided him with arms in order to support the Palestinian resistance. Mehanna was arrested in 1947 with a group of other officers on charges of conspiracy against King Farouk I. However, he was released after a short while.

Role in the 1952 Revolution

Mehanna was contacted by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1949 and attended preparatory meetings for the Revolution. During the 1951 elections at the Officers' Club, Mehanna was the one who advocated Muhammad Naguib's election.

After the Revolution took place in July 1952, Mehanna was appointed Minister of Transport in the first post-revolutionary government, which was headed by Ali Maher. [cite web | title = Decree appointing Rashad Mehanna as Minister of Transport | language = Arabic | date = 1952-07-30 | url = http://www.moqatel.com/mokatel/data/wthaek/Wthaek/GeneralDocs5/AGeneralDocs206_11-1.htm | accessdate = 2008-08-21] He was one of the few members of the Free Officers Committee whose name was actually known, the nine-person committee being shrouded in secrecy and most of its members keeping their names almost a military secret. Mehanna acted as an intermediary between the Free Officers Committee and the Cabinet, since he was a member of both.

The American magazine "Time" described Mehanna at that time as "a religious nationalist and supporter of the Moslem Brotherhood [who] urges Naguib toward an all-out dictatorship, anti-British, antiChristian, anti-Jewish". [cite journal | title = A Good Man | journal = Time | pages = 5 | date = 1952-09-08 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935661-5,00.html | accessdate = 2008-08-21] Mehanna was opposed by Anwar El Sadat, who urged Naguib to leave political business to the politicians and stick to the army.

Regency and arrest

Mehanna was chosen by Nasser to serve as a representative of the Army on the three-member Regency Body established during the nominal reign of infant king-in-exile Fuad II. However, the Regency Body had no real powers, these having been assumed by the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). Historians of this period agree that one of the main reasons for the hostility that arose between Mehanna and the RCC was that the former actually took his title seriously while Nasser and his colleagues had no intention whatsoever of allowing him to exercise the powers that came with it. [cite journal | last = Rizk | first = Yunan Labib | title = Royal help | journal = Al-Ahram Weekly | issue = 727 | date = 27 January - 2 February 2005 | url = http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/727/chrncls.htm | issn = 1110-2977 | oclc = 163624446 | accessdate = 2008-07-27] The standoff ended with the dismissal of Mehanna as a member of the Regency Body. [cite journal | title = Naguib Drops Agent in Regency Council | journal = The New York Times | pages = 3 | date = 1952-10-14 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A16FF3458177B93C6A8178BD95F468585F9 | accessdate = 2008-08-21] The Body was dissolved altogether, and Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim was appointed as sole Prince regent. [cite journal | title = Regent Replaces Council in Egypt | journal = The New York Times | pages = 17 | date = 1952-10-15 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30814FC3558107A93C7A8178BD95F468585F9 | accessdate = 2008-08-21]

By early 1953, reports began circulating which indicated that Mehanna was the ringleader in an attempted coup. [cite journal | title = Mehanna Reported Ringleader | journal = The New York Times | pages = 3 | date = 1953-01-17 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F1FFB355E177B93C5A8178AD85F478585F9 | accessdate = 2008-08-21] As a result of this, Mehanna was accused of counterrevolutionary conspiracy and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 30 March 1953. [cite journal | title = Egypt Ex-Regent Gets Prison Term | journal = The New York Times | pages = 16 | date = 1953-03-31 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F16FC3D5B177B93C3AA1788D85F478585F9 | accessdate = 2008-08-21] However, he was released in 1956 and then put under house arrest. He was re-arrested in 1965, only to be releaed once again in 1967. He retired completely from politics after that, and died on 3 January 1996.

References

;General
*"This article draws heavily on the Rashad Mehanna article in the Arabic-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 21 August 2008.";Specific