Region | Egypt
Egypt's most famous spy dies at 74
Israel Ahmad Al Hawan succumbs to long fight with illness
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 17:54 November 2, 2011
Cairo: Egypt's most famed spy on Israel Ahmad Al Hawan, has died after a long fight with illness, local media reported on Wednesday. He was 74.
Al Hawan worked for the Egyptian intelligence service during the years that followed Egypt's military defeat by Israel in 1967. He supplied the Israelis with mistaken and misleading information that was crucial in Egypt's war with Israel in 1973, added the media reports.
He came to know agents from the Israeli intelligence service , the Mossad, in Greece. On return to Egypt, Al Hawan contacted the Egyptian intelligence service, which encouraged him to get along with the Mossad .
He stayed in Israel for several years where he became so trusted by the Mossad that the agency supplied him with a sophisticated device to use it for spying in Cairo. He later handed it over to the Egypian intelligence service.
In recent years, Al Hawan was openly critical of the government of former president Hosni Mubarak for failing to provide medical care and a monthly stipend for him.
"I blame the Mossad for not killing me because I betrayed them and served my country," Al Hawan said sarcastically in a recent interview. "At least by killing me, they would have put en and to my medical and financial problems," he added.
In late 1970ws, Al Hawan's life was dramatised in a popular Egyptian TV series starring prominent actor Adel Imam.
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