Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet

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Michael Pearce. Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet

AUTHOR’S NOTE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

If you enjoyed The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet, check out these other great Michael Pearce titles

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ALSO BY MICHAEL PEARCE

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Cairo, 1908. The heyday — or is it just past the heyday? — of indirect British rule. Thirty years earlier the profligate Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, had brought his country to the edge of bankruptcy. The Western powers had stepped in but at a price, and their yoke bore hard. In 1881 Egyptian unrest became open rebellion. To safeguard its financial interests Britain sent in an army, crushed the rebels and restored the Khedive, but from now on the Khedive governed in name only; the real ruler of Egypt was Cromer, the British Agent and Consul-General. A complex apparatus of control was introduced. There were British ‘advisers’ at the top of all the major ministries; the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army, the Sirdar, was British; so were the Inspector-General of Prisons, the Commandants of the two key police forces of Cairo and Alexandria; and of course the Mamur Zapt, the Head of the Political CID — the Secret Police.

But by 1908 British rule was not as firmly based as it looked. Other powers were growing jealous. France had cultural links with Egypt which dated back to Napoleon and had never forgiven the British for staying on after crushing the Arabi rebellion. Many of Egypt’s criminal procedures were based upon the Code Napoléon and the judicial system in general followed French lines. This meant that investigation and prosecution were the responsibility not of the police but of the Department of Prosecutions of the Ministry of Justice; that is, of the Parquet.

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‘Not necessarily,’ he said. ‘Anyone who’s plotting an assassination isn’t going to broadcast the fact. There may have been nothing to pick up.’

‘There’s always something to pick up in Cairo,’ said Garvin dismissively.

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