‘The Source’ found dead

Ashraf Marwan, maybe the most colorful person of London’s Arab community, has died under unclear circumstances. Some believe him to be ‘The Source’ which tipped off Mossad prior to the 1973 war – others say he acted as a double agent misleading the Israelis.

From The Times:

Mr Marwan’s death will send shockwaves across the Middle East and among some of Britain’s wealthiest people. His associates included Adnan Khashoggi, the arms dealer, Ken Bates, the football club chairman, the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the late Tiny Rowland.

If found to be murder, his death will carry echoes of last year’s assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent.

In any case, he was close to Nasser and Sadat and must have made his fortune thanks to the connections he developed during that time, in particular when he overlooked the businesses of the Egyptian military in the 1970.

0 thoughts on “‘The Source’ found dead”

  1. I am so anti conspiracy theories but, today a la londres, there was a ‘bomb’ scare near picadilly. I’m thinking that it was done to deliberately mask this story perhaps? Create a diversion so we don’t get a litvenenko type debacle.

  2. heba… you must be “so anti-conspiracy theories”, because the one you’ve come up with is seriously amateur. how would a bomb scare in piccadilly divert attention from a “litvenko type debacle”? far more suspicious to my mind (i’m an ENORMOUS fan of conspiracy theories) is the fact that it was first reported as a suicide. as any fule kno, this pretty much guarantees he was murdered.

    gordon brown must step down immediately

    p.s. why do you put bomb in inverted commas?

  3. I am so anti conspiracy theories but, today a la londres, there was a ‘bomb’ scare near picadilly. I’m thinking that it was done to deliberately mask this story perhaps? Create a diversion so we don’t get a litvenenko type debacle.

    ah, yes, yes, the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. only one mystery remains: what dark and sinister plot was the litvinenko ‘assassination’ in its turn designed to mask?

  4. Heba,

    I think you might be a little too Arabo-centric on that one. Surely cooking up an elaborate coordinated nationwide bomb attack would be a bit of overkill to coverup the dodgy death of a London-based Egyptian with old tales to sell.

    If you were going to hatch such a plot, the time and money would be better spent if you used it to justify another invasion, draconian laws, mass arrests… etc?

  5. robin hoodie, that was a gem of a conspiracy theory. We seem to have a different understanding of what constitutes a decent conspiracy theory. A decent conspiracy theory is surely where the theory mimics the natural course of events. Speaking of natural course of events a terrorist attack in London at this time was the natural course of events in view of: 7/7 anniversary, recent trials of bombers targeting nightclubs; and endless fear mongering by the home office that an attack is imminent. It’s not the fact that it was touted as suicide but rather that he ‘fell off the balcony’- i think that’s 3 who’ve lost their footing- someone get health and safety to do something about those balconies.

    since concocting my conspiracy theory there have been a series of events that have taken place but hey egyptians are known for overkill….

    I am absolutely crest fallen at how quickly his body has been released by the coroner for burial. Any coroner takes at least 28 days to make his deliberation in the most transparent of cases. They certainly could not have done toxicology in less than a week. Shocker!

  6. This just in: Marwan was http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070702103052194C833838“ rel=”nofollow”>a loyal patriot:

    “Ashraf Marwan was a loyal patriot,” Mubarak was quoted as saying by the state news agency MENA the day after the billionaire son-in-law of former Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser was laid to rest in Cairo.

    “He did patriotic things that it is not yet time to reveal, but he was indeed an Egyptian patriot. He spied for no-one,” Mubarak said.

  7. don’t get me wrong heba, summat is definitely afoot, and i’m 100% behind anyone who concocts a theory that follows the natural course of events. i just like a little flair, that’s all. there’s no need to be dull just because we’re serious, right?
    and as for those of you who sneer at this sort of stuff and say (blasphemy!) that it’s easy to fit any number of mildly convincing theories to such a paucity of facts, or even worse, that it reveals the prejudices, badly concealed obsessions and ignorance of the theorist, i say…
    it’s much harder work to come up with a theory like this than simply read the BBC and believe it. we may be semi-educated and prone to assume instant expertise on subjects we know nothing about (coroners, heba?) but it makes us feel clever and warm inside and surely you wouldn’t begrudge us that?

    so bugger off

    (how do, amil?)

  8. insulting people- now that’s flair for you. yes coroner!

    amil- count the no. of times the ME features in the news compared to other regions…

    I think the Egyptian side basically told the uk- do a litvenenko deal and you don’t get your intelligence- capiche?

  9. Considering the rapid developments of events in the UK, I think we need some new conspiratorial naratives.

    (aiiight, robbo?)

    Heba – no matter how many times the ME comes up in the news, it will never compete with the Big Brother show.

    Marwan’s death could have been easily pushed off the news agenda with the a timely tale of treachery and lust played out on the nation’s screens. No need to collect canisters from the calor gas heaters dotted around Home Office premises to combat unseasonally cold weather.

    Seriously, Ive got to ask; does anyone outside Egypt care about this Marwan guy or how he died? Should we care? Is it only of importance in terms of history. i bet the Egyptians and Israelis share intelligence all the time these days.

  10. you’ve heard the latest BB goss! d’you know wot wos her face did..OMG! I

    Ofcourse it is important amil, Egypt is the key to the ME and we get a hearty slap on the back from the US for this in the shape of billions of dollars worth of ‘aid’ which inevitably ends up being used to pay for state funerals of suspected traitors.

    We broker crucial deals with other ME countries by exchanging decent films, cult comedies and music for a whole load of grief. Everyone’s happy.

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