Prominent satirist and journalist, Ahmed Ragab, best known for his daily satirical column Nos Kelma ("Half a Word") in state daily Akhbar Al-Youm, died on Friday morning at the age of 86.

Ragab was one of the most well-known Egyptian writers and journalists. He had a long cooperation with cartoonist Mostafa Hussein, who died last month, at Akhbar Al-Youm since the 1970s, with Ragab writing the captions to Hussein's political cartoons since they started cooperating in the 70's. The two also created several well-known characters which featured in the cartoons.

The famous satirist was born on 20 November 1928 in Alexandria and moved to Cairo in the 1950s. A law graduate, Ragab co-issued a university magazine during his student years, later joining Akhbar Al-Youm, one of Egypt's oldest news organisations. He wrote there for decades, initially under the organisation's founders Ali and Mostafa Amin, pioneers of journalism in Egypt.

Ragab was known for his support for Hosni Mubarak, ousted in the 2011 revolution, and his description of him as "Egypt's beloved son."

In recent years he has been writing a weekly column for independent daily Al-Shorouk.