Bedouin tribesmen actively sheltered army deserters, prompting punitive laws

Evidence

In that respect bedouins continued to play a decisive role in guarding the recruits after delivering them to their training camps. But as happened in the case of the village shaykhs reviewed in the previous chapter, relying on the bedouins was not without its problems. … More importantly, some tribesmen were in the habit of giving refuge to deserters rather than handing them over to the authorities. … In the event of a fellah hiding himself among the bedouins, wearing their clothes, and being discovered among them afterward … the tribesman who hides him will be conscripted into the military service if he is a young man (shabb), and if an old man (ikhtiyār), he will be sent to jail (Liman) for six months. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 661

Categorization

• QUESTION: The law conscripting any tribesman who shelters a deserter — was this ever enforced against powerful bedouin chiefs? Follow-up worth chasing.
• XREF: The pattern of government relying on bedouins who then turn against the government recurs across Egyptian history; desertion as a major constraint on the army connects to the reader’s interest in army performance.