Ebrahim Nafae () (12 January 1934 – 1 January 2018) was an Egyptian journalist. He was editor of the Egyptian newspaper ''

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

'' from 1979 to 2005 and chair of the General Union of Arab Journalists from 1996 to 2012.

Biography

Born in

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

, he received a bachelor's degree from

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University () is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was founded in July 1950, the third ...

in 1956 before beginning his career as a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

reporter. He then became an editor at

Egyptian Radio Egyptian Radio, also known as the Egyptian Radio's General Program (إذاعة البرنامج العام transliterated as Iza'et El-Bernameg Al-Aam) and popularly known as Radio Cairo (in Arabic إذاعة القاهرة transliterated as Iza'e ...

and an economy editor of the state-owned ''

Al Gomhuria Al Gomhuria' (; ) is an influential state-owned Egyptian Arabic language daily newspaper. History and profile ''Al Gomhuria'' was established in 1954 following the Egyptian revolution and became the new regime's leading media outlet. The paper ...

''. Nafae worked at ''

'' as head of the economy section and deputy editor-in-chief. He was editor-in-chief of ''Al-Ahram'' from 1979 to 2005, and he was later appointed CEO of the newspaper. ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' wrote that Nafae "faithfully transmitted" the policies of Egyptian Presidents

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

and

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

and that as president of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, he "shaped Egypt's propaganda policy and defined the borders of self-censorship by the press." Nafae was replaced by Salah El-Ghamri as board chair and Osama Saraya as editor-in-chief. The

Shura Council In Arab culture, a Majlis-ash-Shura (; Shura Council in English) is an advisory council or consultative council. In Islamic context, the Majlis-ash-Shura is one of two ways that a khalifa (Islamic leader) may be selected, the other way being b ...

appointed Nafae to be a member of the Higher Press Council. Nafae served for over a decade as chair of Egypt's independent since 1985 and of the General Union of Arab Journalists from 1996 to 2012. Nafae was close to President Mubarak, and after the 2011 uprising, left to France for medical checkups. His health deteriorated in late 2017, and several writers called for Egyptian authorities to allow him to return to the country. Nafae died of cancer on 1 January 2018, 11 days before his 84th birthday, in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

after undergoing surgery.

Bibliography

* ''Winds of Democracy'' (Arabic) * ''Years of Danger'' (Arabic)

References

1934 births 2018 deaths Egyptian newspaper editors Egyptian newspaper journalists Ain Shams University alumni Reuters people People from Suez {{egypt-journalist-stub