Zaki Badr

Zaki Badr (; 28 February 1926 – 2 April 1997) was an Egyptian major general and the former interior minister of Egypt who served in the post from 1986 to 1990 in the Sedki Cabinet. Badr had a confrontational approach during his term.

Early life and education Badr was born in the Minya province of the southern Egypt on 28 February 1926. He graduated from the police academy in 1946. He also served in the ministry of interior during the term of Nabawi Ismail and was in charge of the central region of Minya. He was the key man in the Egyptian government's struggle against the underground extremists cells. He took strong measures on Asyut when extremists rioted in the city after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in October 1981. Shortly after his appointment Badr fired or transferred hundreds of security officials from March to August 1986. He was the most disliked man in the cabinet due to his hardliner approach against Islamic "fundamentalist" movements.

Badr also toughly struggled against drug trafficking, black market currency speculation and extremism during his term. since his brutal policies were experienced everywhere in the country, including the universities. These people were tortured at Ain Shams police station and the state security intelligence department in Lazughli.

Badr was sacked by the President Hosni Mubarak on 12 January 1990 and replaced by Abdul Halim Moussa in the post. No explanation was given for the dismissal of Badr. However, a scandal he had been involved in was the reason for his removal. On the other hand, Najib Ghadbian regards Badr's removal as one of three steps towards democracy in Egypt occurred in 1990.

Assassination attempt During his term as interior minister on 16 December 1989, Badr became the target of an assassination attempt when a Suzuki pickup truck loaded with gunpowder exploded in a Cairo suburb seconds before his motorcade was to pass. and nobody was hurt in the blast. The driver of the truck, a 24-year-old medical student named Youssef Hasan Mahmoud, was arrested while trying to escape the scene. The perpetrators were the members of the Islamic Group whose relatives had been arrested and tortured earlier, including Ayman Zawahiri.

Controversy When he was interior minister, Badr referred to Islamist extremists as "mad dogs, with all respect to dogs."

Personal life and death Badr was married and had two sons. His family founded a charitable foundation, the Zaki Badr Foundation, in the United States.