THE EXECUTION OF THE SEVEN MEN HANGED FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF MAJOR-GeNERAL SIR LEE OLIVER FITZMAURICE STACK.

 The Egyptian assassins of the British governor of Egypt and Sudan.

On Sunday the 23rd of August 1925, seven Egyptian men were hanged in a Cairo prison for the for the assassination of Major-General Sir Lee Oliver Fitzmaurice Stack, age 56, who was the British governor general (Sirdar) of Egypt and Sudan.  He was ambushed as he drove through Cairo from the War Office to his residence with his aide, Captain P.M. Campbell. Both were shot several times.

  The assassination took place on Wednesday the 19th of November 1924.  A bomb had been thrown at the car but failed to explode.  The car’s chauffeur was wounded but still managed to drive to the residence of the British High Commissioner, Viscount Allenby where all three received immediate medical attention.  The chauffeur later received a medal for his brave conduct.

  Sir Lee Stack died just before midnight on Thursday the 20th of November despite receiving expert medical treatment and two blood transfusions to counter the bleeding from his wounded spleen.

A reward of £E 10,000 was offered for information leading to the arrest of the gang and was later paid to Helbawi Effendi who gave police excellent information.

Eight of the assassins were tried in Cairo and were sentenced to hang on the 6th of June 1925, having been convicted on the 2nd of June. 

 Abdel Hamid Enayat’s older brother later had his sentence commuted to life in prison as his confession had helped identify other members of the squad.  Mahmud Saleh who drove the taxi for the assassins was sentenced to two years in prison.  Sir Sydney Smith, a famous pathologist, was the medico-legal advisor to the Egyptian government and was able to match the bullets removed from the victims to the assassin’s guns.

The assassination came after negotiations broke down between the British and Egyptian governments during the autumn of 1924, in the search for a solution to the Anglo-Egyptian problem.  A public apology for the murder was required by the British, together with payment of a large fine and the withdrawal of Egyptian troops from the Sudan.

The hangings that originally been scheduled for Monday the 24th of August were brought forward by a day to avoid Egyptian protests. 

At 7 a.m. Abdel Hamid Enayat was the first to be led to the gallows erected in a “spacious room”.  The death warrant was read to him and then asked if he had any final statement.  His last words were reportedly “I have no fear of hanging.  I have killed 35 Englishmen and I am proud to die.”  

At 7.40 Dr. Shafik Mansour was carried to the gallows as he refused to walk.  Once pinioned he managed to burst the straps around his wrists.  He was followed at 40 minute intervals by Abraham Mouss, Aly Ibrahim Mohammed, Mahmoud Rashid, Raghl Hassan, who had to be supported on the gallows and lastly Mahmoud Ismail at 11.11 a.m.  

Mahmoud Ismail was a civil servant and it is thought that he was the master mind of the attack and that he took many secrets surrounding it to his grave.  The seven bodies were returned to their families for burial. The picture is a reconstruction of the assassination.

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