Assassination of Anwar Sadat in the context of "Ayman al-Zawahiri"

Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad on 6 October 1981. Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk I in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and a close confidant of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, under whom he served as vice president twice and whom he succeeded as president in 1970. In 1978, Sadat and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, signed a peace treaty in cooperation with United States President Jimmy Carter, for which they were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his 11 years as president, he changed Egypt's trajectory, departing from many political and economic tenets of Nasserism, reinstituting a multi-party system, and launching the Infitah economic policy. As President, he led Egypt in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to regain Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967, making him a hero in Egypt and, for a time, the wider Arab world. Afterwards, he engaged in negotiations with Israel, culminating in the Camp David Accords and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty.

Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (Arabic: محمد حسني السيد مبارك‎; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st prime minister from 1981 to 1982. He was previously the 18th vice president under President Anwar Sadat from 1975 until his accession to the presidency. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force. He served as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rose to the rank of air chief marshal in 1973.

After Sadat was assassinated in 1981, Mubarak assumed the presidency in a single-candidate referendum, and renewed his term through single-candidate referendums in 1987, 1993, and 1999. Under United States pressure, Mubarak held the country's first multi-party election in 2005, which he won. In 1989, he succeeded in reinstating Egypt's membership in the Arab League, which had been frozen since the Camp David Accords with Israel, and in returning the Arab League's headquarters back to Cairo. He was known for his supportive stance on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, in addition to his role in the Gulf War. Despite providing stability and reasons for economic growth, his rule was repressive. The state of emergency, which had not been lifted since the 1967 war, stifled political opposition, the security services became known for their brutality, and corruption became widespread.

The Unknown Soldier Memorial in Cairo is a pyramid-shaped monument in Nasr City. Its construction was ordered by president Anwar Sadat in 1974 in honor of Egyptians and Arabs who lost their lives in the 1973 October War. It was inaugurated in October 1975. The site was also chosen for the president's tomb after his assassination in October 1981.

The monument is made of concrete and resembles a hollow pyramid, with a height of 25 meters, and a base width of 14.3 meters. The four pillars are 1.9 meters thick, and are inscribed with 71 symbolic names. At the center of the base is a solid basalt cube representing the soldier's tomb.It was designed by the artist Sami Rafi, a professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo. A small memorial to those who died in the 1973 war is present in the 6th of October Panorama.