LONDON: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of TJAR has forestalled a coup and placed his left-hand man Aly Sabri under house arrest, the ‘Guardian’ newspaper said today [Sept 18], quoting Cairo Press reports.

The influential ‘Times’ pointed out that the news of President Nasser’s illness had come at a time when he had begun to tighten his grip on the UAR administrative machine. His move had “all the makings of a purge of the country’s political superstructure”.

The ‘Times’ said the disappearance of one time Premier Aly Sabri from the limelight had been accompanied by the removal of the Director of the President’s Office, Abdel Magid Farid, one of Sabri’s supporters. His influential post had been filled by Hassan Al Tihami, one of the original “Free Officers” who executed the 1952 coup which overthrew the monarchy in UAR, stated “The Times”. Mr Farid, who was also director of the Arab Socialist Union, UAR’s only political party, had inherited his job from Mr Sabri, the paper said.

A Beirut report said: President Nasser has sacked his Army Chief of Staff in a high command reshuffle, the right-wing Lebanese newspaper “Al Jaryda” wrote today… — Agency

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019