By Khaled Dawoud "Khaled, tell your father the people of Egypt love you," was one slogan repeated by the thousands of Egyptians who took part on Friday in the funeral of , late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser's eldest son. Khaled, 62, died a day earlier at a private hospital after a long struggle with illness. The funeral was attended by a host of key political figures, headed by Commander of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and Chief of Staff Sami Anan. Tantawi's participation was an obvious sign that the country's current rulers remain loyal to the legitimacy of Nasser, an army officer, and the revolution he led in 1952 to overthrew the monarchy. Leaders of the Nasserist movement, including presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi and Nasserist Party leader Sameh Ashour, were also keen to appear in the front rows of the funeral, clearly using the occasion to bolster popular support. Participants raised pictures of Khaled and his father, chanting "Khaled tell your father that after him we saw nothing but humiliation". The Muslim Brotherhood -- its leaders were jailed by Nasser and nearly a dozen sentenced to death -- was conspicuously absent. The Brotherhood, poised for a major victory when parliamentary elections are held, did not send any representative to the funeral. Gamal Fahmi, a Nasserist journalist, was obviously dismayed by the Brotherhood's stand, saying that "this was Nasser's son's funeral and not that of his father." "The Brotherhood lost an opportunity to prove that they were working for the future and ready to overcome differences that are more than 40 years old." Presidential hopeful Sabahi pointed to the contrast between Nasser's son, an engineer and university professor, and Gamal, the son of ousted president Hosni Mubarak who is standing trial with his father on corruption charges. "The late Nasser issued a clear warning to Khaled that if he ever dared to use his name to secure personal favours he would personally put him in military prison," Sabahi said. Nasser's critics point to the absence of democracy under his rule and accuse him of bequeathing to Egypt the heavy-handed security forces whose activities so marred recent decades. But there is near agreement that the late president and his family were clean. Nasser died in 1970 leaving behind no fortunes for his family. Gamal Mubarak, a businessman, is facing charges that he used his father's influence to accumulate wealth, and business community leaders allege that he insisted on a share of any major deal. The lavish lifestyle the Mubaraks enjoyed was in sharp contrast to the reputation Nasser sought to build for himself as the "man of the poor". Khaled, the closest of his siblings to his father in appearance, did not seek to play a political role until the early 1980s. Then it was to express his opposition to Anwar El-Sadat's decision to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Together with Mahmoud Noureddin, a London-based former intelligence officer, he formed a secret armed group known as Egypt's Revolution which sought to target Israeli diplomats serving in Cairo. The group conducted three operations against Israeli diplomats between 1985 and 1986. When they decided to expand their activities and targeted a car carrying three American diplomats security bodies became more alert. The secret group was exposed when Noureddin's brother went to the US embassy and provided them with information in return for a large reward. Noureddin was sentenced to life imprisonment and died 10 years later in jail. One of the ironies about Khaled's death was that he passed away on 15 September, the same day as Noureddin. Sources close to Khaled say his role in Egypt's Revolution was limited to helping finance the group. It was enough for him to receive a death sentence in absentia. While Khaled might have not benefited from his father while alive, Nasser's popularity clearly played a part in allowing him to escape Egypt before the trial started. He spent three years in the former Yugoslavia, during which time he was unable to attend his mother's funeral. A number of Arab leaders are reported to have been involved in convincing former president Mubarak to pardon Khaled. After three years of exile Khaled returned to Egypt to face a retrial and was acquitted of all charges. Except for the confession of Noureddin's brother to the Americans, no other member of Egypt's Revolution implied Khaled was the leader of the armed group. Part of the deal that allowed Khaled's return was that he should not play any political role or act as Nasser's heir apparent. Khaled kept his part of the deal, confining himself to teaching at Cairo University while closely following local politics. Architect Mamdouh Hamza, who played a leading role in the 25 January Revolution, said one of Khaled's happiest moments was when Mubarak was forced to resign on 11 February. "He thought that the level of corruption had become unbearable and he was disappointed by the retreat in Egypt's role in the Arab world under Mubarak," says Hamza. Khaled, he added, went to Tahrir Square during the revolution and was "very impressed with what Egypt's youth had managed to achieve". According to Hamza, Khaled did consider becoming involved in politics after Mubarak's fall but was prevented from doing so by his rapidly failing health. Following surgery in London, he reportedly lost 40 kilos in a few weeks. He was rushed to hospital in early September and was in a coma for two weeks before he died.
