Anwar Sadat

Muhammad Anwar El Sadat, or Anwar El Sadat (25th December 1918 - 6th October 1981), was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15th October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalists on 6th October 1981. He was a senior member of the Free Officers group that overthrew the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and a close confidant of Gamal Abdel Nasser, whom he succeeded as President in 1970. In his eleven years as president he changed Egypt's direction, departing from some of the economic and political principles of Nasserism by re-instituting the multi-party system and launching the Infitah. His leadership in the October War of 1973 made him a hero in Egypt, and for a time throughout the Arab World. His visit to Israel and the eventual Camp David Accords won him the Nobel Peace Prize. The peace treaty was the primary reason given by Khalid Islambouli, one of Sadat's assassins, for his opposition to Sadat.