Egypt’s Sisi mourns Heikal’s death

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi mourned the death of prominent journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, who passed away earlier on Wednesday at the age of 92.

“Egypt has lost today a valuable journalist who enriched Egyptian and Arabic press with his political writings and analysis that tackled a long period of Egyptian and Arab history,” the president said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Mr. Mohamed Hassanein Heikal established a unique form of journalism that combined political analysis with a magnificent style of writing, which added more to his articles, whether journalistic or intellectual,” he added.

The president said that Heikal played a vital role in developing Al-Ahram newspaper until it became one of the biggest press institutions in the world.

Heikal started his career as a journalist in the fall of 1942 at the Egyptian Gazette.

His breakthrough came with his coverage of the WWII Battle of Al-Alemin for the Gazette. He later moved on to join the most established editor of the time, Mohamed El-Tabei, in the then most widely-circulated paper Akhr Saa.

Heikal joined Akhbar Al-Youm and worked closely with the Amin brothers before moving on to chair Al-Ahram in 1957 for 14 years, transforming the paper into the Arab world’s most reputable press establishment.

Following his remarkable years at the helm of Al-Ahram, Heikal produced the largest volume of his books that offer incredible insight into the politics of Egypt and the Middle East post Sykes-Picot up until the eve of the Arab Spring.

source: Ahram Online