Sami Sharaf

Sami Sharaf (; 20 April 1929 – 23 January 2023) was an Egyptian military officer who held various posts during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser. His public roles ended in May 1971 when he was arrested and then imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities under the presidency of Anwar Sadat.

Early life and education Sharaf was born in Heliopolis, Cairo on 20 April 1929. His father, Mohamed Abdel Aziz Sharaf, was a physician who was trained in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and served as the director of Beni Suef Governorate. Sami had five siblings.

Sharaf was the head of the Presidential Office. He was primarily in charge of the security of the President Gamal Abdel Nasser being one of Nasser's personal support personnel.

On 28 September 1961, Sharaf was named as the state minister for presidential affairs. He was a member of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) and was part of its secret unit, the Socialist Vanguard (Arabic: al-Tanzim al-Tali‘i), which was also called the Vanguard Organization. The unit was established in 1963 Saudi King Faisal claimed that Sharaf was involved in a plot against him in June 1969. As of 1971 Sharaf was one of the Vanguard secretariat's ten members.

Sharaf served as the minister of state under the presidency of Anwar Sadat. Sharaf's tenure ended on 13 May 1971 when he resigned from office. Sharaf was sentenced to death, but in December 1971 his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. He was released from the prison on 15 May 1981.

Sharaf was an anti-communist and supported the establishment of a capitalist state. However, he was considered to be a Soviet agent from 1955. Following his removal from office in 1971 Ashraf Marwan who was the son-in-law of Nasser and an intelligence officer working under Sharaf, was given the task of coordinating the intelligence affairs.

Sharaf published a book on his memoirs, Sanawat wa ayam ma‘ Jamal ‘Abd al Nasir: Shahadat Sami Sharaf, in 2006. He contributed to the Egyptian newspapers Al-Ahram and Al-Masry Al-Youm, and his last article appeared on 8 April 2021. Funeral prayers for him took place in Cairo with the attendance of Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser, a son of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was featured by Slimane Dazi in The Angel, a 2018 Netflix film.