It didn’t please some Egyptians that their president Anwar Sadat pursued a policy of friendliness towards Israel. They shot him down in a hail of bullets at a military parade in Cairo on October 6th, 1981 – 10 other people were also killed and 40 injured.

Several men in Egyptian military uniforms launched the attack and three of the assassins were shot dead by the president’s bodyguards.

At dawn on Thursday, April 15th, 1982, five Islamic extremists who took part in the murder were executed. Two military personnel, Lieutenant Khalid el-Islambouly and Private Hussain Mohammed, were shot by firing squad – the other three, whose names have never been made public, were hanged. Another 17 men involved in the plot were given long prison sentences.