16 Facts About Ashraf Marwan

Mohamed Ashraf Abu El Wafa Marwan, known as Ashraf Marwan, was an Egyptian official who worked as a spy for the Israeli Mossad.

From 1969 on, Marwan worked at the Presidential Office, first under Gamal Abdel Nasser and then as a close aide to his successor, Anwar Sadat.

In 1965, Ashraf Marwan graduated from Cairo University, where he was part of a military officer training program; after graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, he began working in Egypt's military industry with the rank of second lieutenant.

In 1968, Ashraf Marwan started working in the Presidential Office under Sami Sharaf, Nasser's aide-de-camp and the strongman of the Egyptian security service, who kept an eye on him.

In late 1968, Ashraf Marwan, Mona, and their newborn son, Gamal, left for London, allegedly for the continuation of Ashraf Marwan's studies.

The information that Ashraf Marwan provided made its way to the desks of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and Israeli Defense Force Chief of Staff Chaim Bar-Lev in raw form.

Some, most notably Eli Zeira in his memoirs and researcher Ahron Bregman, had previously posited that Ashraf Marwan was a double agent who fed the Israelis misleading information as part of an Egyptian deception campaign.

However, subsequent work by Bar-Joseph in the 2010s established that Ashraf Marwan was a genuine spy for Mossad.

Bar-Joseph's 2016 book on Ashraf Marwan, entitled The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel, was later the basis for a Netflix film, The Angel.

On February 14,1974, Ashraf Marwan became Secretary to the President of the Republic for Foreign Relations, a new position that reflected Sadat's ruling style.

In 2000, Ashraf Marwan opened a Credit Suisse bank account through a legal entity; this was publicly reported in 2022 as part of the "Suisse Secrets" revelations.

One witness, who was on the third floor of a nearby building, told police that he saw two men "wearing suits and of Mediterranean appearance" appear on the balcony moments after Ashraf Marwan's fall, look down, and then return inside the apartment.

The inquest found no evidence that Ashraf Marwan suffered from a psychiatric disorder.

The evening on the day of his death, Ashraf Marwan had been scheduled to take a flight to the United States for a meeting with his lawyer, and he had recently been admitted to the Reform Club.

At the time of the investigation, Ashraf Marwan's wife said she believed that Mossad was behind his death.

One of Ashraf Marwan's sons was married to the daughter of former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.