Egyptian army officers slaughtered deserting soldiers who accepted an offer of freedom

Evidence

The officer under his command subsequently released them from prison telling them that those who chose “to serve the Pasha and rest in obedience” might stay and return to their duties; as for those who did not want to stay they would be free to leave the camp. “On this a part of the thirty prepared to leave the camp, when an order was given to fire upon them and they were for the most part slaughtered.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 665

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: A concrete instance of the brutal coercion that the military was trying to move beyond, connecting to the reader’s question about army discipline performance.

Related

• Egyptian soldiers mutinied, held officers prisoner, and were slaughtered when they tried to desert (similarity 0.85)
• Egyptian commanders punished desertion and fear harshly at Acre (similarity 0.79)
• Conscripted Egyptian soldiers saw the army as hated brutal coercion (similarity 0.79)