Mostafa El-Nahas

Mostafa El-Nahas was an Egyptian politician who served as the Prime Minister for five terms. He was born in Samanud, where his father was a lumber merchant. He graduated from the Khedivial Law School and worked as a judge before joining the Wafd Party, the nationalist movement that opposed British colonialism. He was exiled with Saad Zaghlul, the leader of the Wafd, to the Seychelles in 1921-1923. After Zaghlul’s death in 1927, he became the president of the Wafd and the main opposition figure to the monarchy. He was prime minister in 1928, 1930, 1936-1937, 1942-1944, and 1950-1952. He negotiated several treaties with Britain, including the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty that granted Egypt nominal independence and the 1951 Treaty of Alliance that ended the British occupation of the Suez Canal Zone. He also supported the Arab cause in Palestine and helped to found the Arab League in 1945. He was ousted from power by the 1952 revolution led by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers. He died in Alexandria in 1965.