Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala him to run as their presidential candidate, but he refused due to their different ideological backgrounds. Abu Ghazala died on 6 September 2008 at El-Galla Military Hospital in Cairo at the age of 78, from throat cancer. Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala Mohamed Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala (1930–2008) (محمد عبد الحليم أبو غزاله) was Defense Minister of Egypt from 1981 to 1989. Abu Ghazala was seated next to Anwar Sadat when the president was assassinated. He was born in Zuhur Al Omara Village, Dilingat, Behera governorate, in February 1930. His family descended from "Awlad Aly" tribe. After completing his secondary education,
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria ineffective. Sadat was assassinated a month later, on 6 October 1981, by Islamic extremists, and in January 1985 Pope Shenouda III was fully reinstated by Sadat's successor, Hosni Mubarak. Pope Shenouda III had arguments with then President Anwar Sadat over both the Camp David Accords and what he said was the president's deficient response to growing Islamism. After a series of protests that led president Sadat to depose Pope Shenouda III, he was exiled by Sadat and sent to the Nitrian Desert, to return three years after Sadat's assassination following an amnesty by Sadat's successor Hosni Mubarak. His stance toward