Ex-Military Chief Returns to Cairo to Face Jail Term
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CAIRO — The general who led Egypt’s forces in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and then had a falling out with President Anwar Sadat returned home Saturday after a long exile to face a three-year prison sentence.
Former Lt. Gen. Saadeddin Shazli, 70, was arrested by military intelligence agents as he stepped off a plane at Cairo airport. Galal el-Dib, lawyer for the former chief of staff, said he would appeal the prison sentence imposed by a military court in 1983 for disclosing military secrets of the 1973 October War in a book of memoirs.
Shazli commanded Egyptian troops who scored quick successes in a shock attack on Israeli forces at the start of the war, and he urged Sadat to press on. The president hesitated and agreed to a cease-fire when Israel counterattacked.
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