Egypt

Omar Suleiman to receive military funeral Saturday

Former spy chief and vice president Omar Suleiman is to receive a military funeral in Cairo on Saturday, Egypt's state news agency reported.

"General Omar Suleiman, former vice president, will receive a military funeral after prayers at the Rashdan Mosque," in Cairo, MENA said.
Suleiman died on Thursday aged 77. He had been undergoing medical tests in the United States.
 
"On Thursday, July 19, General Omar Suleiman … passed away due to complications from amyloidosis, a disease that affects multiple organs including the heart and kidneys," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement issued on Thursday night.
 
Suleiman had reportedly suffered from a lung disease for several months, after which he developed heart problems.
 
A private plane carrying his body arrived at Cairo Airport at dawn on Saturday. An ambulance was waiting at the VIP terminal to transport the body, and Suleiman supporters and several general intelligence and military police leaders waited by the terminal's exit.
 
The Rashdan Mosque is in Cairo's Nasr City district.
 
Meanwhile, Major General Mohamad Naguib Hassan, Assistant Interior Minister for the prison sector, has denied a news story that Hosni Mubarak, who is now detained at Tora Prison Hospital, submitted a request to attend the funeral.
 
Funeral prayers dedicated to Suleiman's soul were performed in a mosque in 6th of October City Friday. The mosque’s imam described Suleiman as “a good man, and not corrupt.”
 
He said Suleiman did well in the battles against Israel. He forbade insulting and cursing Suleiman, or accusing him of blasphemy, because he was a Muslim.
 
According to the imam, fate placed Suleiman with the former regime, but he was never a liar or a thief.
 
Suleiman was considered by many to be Mubarak's most trusted man and an accomplice in Israel's siege of Gaza.
 
His spy agency was responsible for suppressing opposition groups in Egypt, and he was involved in the post 9/11 extraordinary rendition program in which terror suspects kidnapped by Americans were shipped to Egypt for interrogation, sometimes involving torture.

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