One of Egypt's most famous spies, who convinced the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad that he worked with them during the War of Attrition between 1967 and 1973, died in Cairo Tuesday at the age of 74.
Ahmed al-Hawan died after a long fight against illness, and his funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, Egyptian state media reported.
Hawan had provided the Israelis with false military information with the help of Egyptian Intelligence from 1967 until 1973. He also took a state-of-the-art transmission device from the Mossad, which only the United States and Israel possessed at the time, and gave it to Egyptian intelligence.
In recent years he criticized the government of then-President Hosni Mubarak for not allowing him to receive proper medical treatment or a pension.
Egypt's current military ruler, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces head Hussein Tantawi, ordered that he receive medical care after Mubarak's resignation in February.
In the late 1970s, his biography was made into a popular TV drama series, "Domoa fi Oyon Waqiha" (Tears in Shameless Eyes), in which his character was known as Gomaa al-Shawan.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
