Hoda Gamal Abdel Nasser

Hoda Gamal Abdel Nasser (Arabic: هدى جمال عبد الناصر; born c. 1944) is an Egyptian political scientist and historian. She is a professor of political science at Cairo University and is known for her archival and research work related to modern Egyptian history, particularly the era of her father, former President Gamal Abdel Nasser.^[1]

Abdel Nasser is the eldest of the five children of President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Tahia Kazem. The family maintained a relatively modest private life during his presidency. She grew up in Cairo and witnessed significant events such as the 1956 Suez Crisis and the 1967 Six-Day War.^[2][3][4]

She studied political science at Cairo University, where her academic interests were influenced by her father's political career and Egypt's modern history.^[5]

Abdel Nasser earned a PhD in political science. Her doctoral thesis, later expanded into the 1994 book Britain and the Egyptian Nationalist Movement, 1936–52, examined Anglo-Egyptian relations.^[6] She has served as a professor at Cairo University and worked for over two decades at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, where she headed the Egyptian Revolution Research Unit. In this role, she helped collect and catalog primary source materials related to the 1952 Egyptian Revolution.^[7][8]

She chairs the Abdel Nasser Foundation, which has collaborated with institutions like the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to archive and release documents from Gamal Abdel Nasser's presidency. She also contributed to the establishment of the Gamal Abdel Nasser Museum, which opened in his former Heliopolis residence in 2015.^[9][10]

In 2015, she edited and published a three-volume collection of her father's private papers, titled Gamal Abdel Nasser: Al-Awraq Al-khassa (The Private Papers), containing correspondence, diaries, and memorabilia.^[11]

Abdel Nasser authored the book Nasser: The Secret Archives, which compiles personal and official documents from her father's life.^[12][13]

she was a senator appointed by President Al-Sisi from 2020-2025.^[14][15]

Abdel Nasser has occasionally commented on modern Egyptian politics. In 2013, she published an open letter urging then-General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to run for president.^[16]

In 2007, she publicly accused former President Anwar Sadat of involvement in her father's death, a claim that led to a defamation lawsuit by Sadat's daughter. An Egyptian court found Abdel Nasser guilty of defamation in 2010 and fined her.^[17][18][19]

Her work is cited for making primary sources on mid-20th century Egypt more accessible to researchers. Scholars have used her publications to study Gamal Abdel Nasser's personal and political life.^[20][21]

She married Hatem Sadek in 1965, a prominent banker who was among the most successful in Cairo during his lifetime. The couple had two children, a daughter and a son. During her father’s final illness after 1969, she assisted him, serving as both secretary and nurse. In her later years, she became known for her substantial personal wealth.^[22][23][24]

• Gamal Abdel Nasser
• Tahia Kazem
• 1952 Egyptian Revolution
• Cairo University
• Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina