Khalid Abdel Nasser

Khalid Abdel Nasser (Also: Khalid 'Abd al-Nasir) (ar:خالد عبد الناصر), eldest son of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, accused in 1988 of being part of a secret leftist organization, Egypt Revolution, a Nasserist group that violently opposed the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. [YOUSSEF M. IBRAHIM, New York Times, February 19, 1988, "Nasser Son Indicted In Attacks on Envoys From Israel and U.S."] The Egyptian state sought the death penalty in a case which accused Nasser's son of trying to overthrow the government and involvement in a spate of assassinations and bombings. The case eventually became a test of strength between the judiciary and the executive when judges threw out much of the case, accusing police and prosecutors of collusion in torturing the defendants. [المصورو , "النيابة في قفص الاتهام", عاطف فرج Atif Farag, al-Musawwar, March 10, 1990 "The Prosecutor in the Prisoner's Dock"]

As a young man, Nasser had a difficult relationship with his father's successor as president. A Time Magazine anecdote illustrates both his personality and impulsiveness:

:"Egypt's President Anwar Sadat paid a call last month on the family of the late Gamal Abdel Nasser, his political predecessor and mentor. Sadat had an urgent request: Could he have the $36,000 bulletproof Mercedes limousine that had been parked in the family garage ever since Nasser's death last September? No, replied the family; the car had belonged to the man, not the office. In the midst of a heated argument that followed, Nasser's impulsive son Khalid, 23, dashed to the garage, doused the Mercedes with gasoline, and set it afire. It was a total loss. " [Egypt: Sadat in the Saddle, Time Magazine, May 31, 1971. URL: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,944413,00.html , retrieved July 28, 2008]

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