Suleiman Khater

Suleiman Mohammed Abdul-Hamid Khater (Arabic سليمان خاطر, also transcribed Soleiman, Sulaiman, Sulayman, Suliman etc.) was an Egyptian soldier (a member of the Central Security Forces) who on October 5, 1985 opened fire on Israeli tourists who apparently ignored orders to move away from a military post in the Sinai, killing seven of them, as well as an Egyptian police officer. While Israel demanded that he be harshly punished, a number of voices in the Arab world expressed support for his actions, including the parliament of Kuwait. Khater was found in January 1986, hung in his jail cell, and many suspected that the Egyptian authorities staged a "suicide" as a convenient escape from their political dilemma. After his death, the Iranian government of Ayatollah Khomeini issued a stamp reading "In honour of the martyrdom of Sulayman Khater, Hero of Sinai" and named a street in Tehran for him.

Early Life
Suleiman Khater was born on 1961 in the village of Ekyad (sometimes transcribed Akyad) in Al-Sharkeyya governorate, Egypt. He was the youngest of three boys and two girls. During his childhood, Suleiman witnessed the Israeli strike on Bahr el-Bakar Primary School on April 8, 1970, when the Israeli Air Force bombarded the school using American Phantom airplanes, killing 30 children. Suleiman joined the obligatory military service as a soldier in the Central Security Forces.

Ras Burqa massacre
According to the Egyptian daily Al-Wafd, on October 5, 1985, and during Khater’s usual shift in the area of Ras Barqa (or Ras Barga) in Southern Sinai, he saw a group of Israeli tourists, 12, trying to climb the cliff where his booth was located. He warned them, saying “Stop no passing” in English, but they didn’t listen to him and kept going towards the military booth. According to him, he fired warning shots in the air in order to find out what they were up to in the darkness. Since there was no response or reaction from the 12 Israelis, Suleiman shot at them and left 7 of them dead, including 4 children.

Although that was the orders that Suleiman followed, he was charged in front of a military tribunal. During the investigations, Suleiman said that these Israelis sneaked into the Egyptian lands without permission and refused to obey or listen to his warnings.

Suleiman's Tribunal
Suleiman turned himself in after the incidents, and a presidential decree was issued to let Suleiman be introduced to a military tribunal, although he was a member of the police forces and not a military soldier. Egypt's most prominent lawyers stood in line to passionately defend Khater. Suleiman’s lawyer requested that Suleiman be introduced in a civil court, but his request was refused.

The governmental journals said he was crazy, and the dissident journals demanded that he be introduced in a civil court, not a military one; as a result, many appeals, conferences, and statements demanded the same thing. The military tribunal sentenced Khater a life term of hard labour on December 28, 1985, and he was deported to the Military Prison in Nasr City, Cairo. Immediately, Khater was transferred to the prison hospital. On his 9th day in prison, January 7, 1986, it was announced that Suleiman had committed suicide.

Investigation with Suleiman
In the investigation record, Khater tells his story that on October 5, 1985:

"I was on a cliff high from the ground, serving during my shift, and I saw a group of foreigners; women, children and apparently a man wearing swimsuits. I said: 'Stop no passing' in English, they didn’t obey. And they passed by the booth. My mission there was to guard the borders, to guard the equipment that no one, Egyptian or foreigner, should see. This is a no entry area and no one should be there, and these are my orders. It isn’t the case that I let pass any girl who strips in front of me."

- Suleiman Khater

The mystery of his “suicide”
Many Egyptians cast doubt on the government's version of Suleiman's death. The forensic report said that he committed suicide. His brother said: “I raised my brother very well, and I know how faithful and religious he is. He cannot have committed suicide. They killed him in his prison”. National (governmental) journals said that Suleiman hung himself to a window 3 meters away from the ground. Witnesses say that suicide is not the only possibility and that there were strangling marks on the neck, and bruises on his legs. The official statement said that he committed suicide using the bed sheets, al-Mosawer official magazine said that it was using a plastic sheet, and the forensic report said that it was using a piece of a commando costume. Suleiman’s family issued a request to redo the dissection by an independent committee, however their request was declined. As soon as Suleiman’s death news was known, angry university and school students went out in protests. After all, the Israelis families got a compensation from the Egyptian government. Suleiman’s mother later said: “My son was killed, by the government, for the sake of America and Israel, so that they will be satisfied”.