Hain Ahmed Pasha


Hain Ahmed Pasha, an Ottoman governor, beylerbey, and statesman, became the Ottoman Governor of Egypt in 1523. Disappointed because he had not become Grand Vizier and because his rival Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha had been appointed instead, he declared himself the Sultan of Egypt, independent from the Ottoman Empire. He struck coins with his own face and name in order to legitimize his power and captured Cairo Citadel and the local Ottoman garrisons in January 1524. However, after surviving an assassination attempt in his bath by two emirs that he had previously sacked, he fled Cairo. Ottoman authorities finally captured him and executed him by decapitation. His rebellion occasioned a short period of instability in the nascent Egypt Eyalet. After his death, his rival Pargalı İbrahim Pasha visited Egypt and reformed the provincial military and civil administration.
Ahmed Pasha was of Georgian origin. He was educated in the Enderun palace school.
The epithet "Hain" means "traitor" in Persian.