Did he fall or was he pushed?

The curious case of the spy who fell to his death

James Forsyth

15 August 2007

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The death of a double agent raises many questions

as a ‘great patriot’ and claimed that he, Mubarak, ‘knew the details of what he was doing to serve his country as they happened’ and that Marwan ‘carried out patriotic acts which it is not time yet to reveal’. The Egyptian press points out that Marwan is the third Egyptian with links to the intelligence world to have fallen from a London balcony since 1974 — the two others tumbled to their deaths from balconies in one block of flats in Maida Vale. But then again, it would not be in Egypt’s interests to admit that someone so close to Nasser and to Sadat had betrayed his country to Israel.

The post-mortem determined that Marwan had died as a result of a rupture to the aorta caused by a fall but beyond that little is certain. The police investigation is continuing and the inquest will no longer resume as previously scheduled in mid-August. Instead, the coroner will now hold a meeting on 4 September. Until then, and perhaps even afterwards, Marwan’s enigmatic life and death remain a mystery. There is no consensus on whether he was the Egyptian who fooled the Israelis or the man whose warning saved the Golan Heights and ultimately Israel. There is, of course, the possibility that — like a true double agent — he was both.