Nasser vs. Sadat - the female version

Egyptian police raided Tuesday the apartment of Hoda Abdel Nasser - the daughter of former president Gamal Abdel Nasser - with the intention of confiscating property, because she had still not paid damages to the daughter of another former president, Anwar Sadat, for defaming her father.

A Cairo court ruled in 2008 that Hoda Nasser must pay 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,500) to Ruqaya Sadat for defamation, after Nasser had charged in a 2007 magazine interview that Anwar Sadat was responsible for killing her father by drugging his food, rather than a heart attack as doctors had said.

Police were prevented at the last minute from confiscating property during Tuesday's raid after senior attorneys intervened and postponed the property seizure until Nasser's daughter acts to obtain the required amount.

Attempts were made simultaneously by senior Egyptian journalists, including the one who arranged the interview with Nasser, to settle the dispute between the two women. Both have signaled their willingness to compromise, although according to a report in al-Quds al-Arabi Sadat's lawyer has asked her not to come to an agreement.

Anwar Sadat's son, former Egyptian member of parliament Mohammad Anwar Sadat, expressed sorrow that the difference in opinion had caused such a deep rift between the two families. He said that both families were appreciated by the Egyptian public and that there was no room for such a dispute between them.