Renowned veteran Egyptian journalist Hamdy Kandil died on Thursday morning in Cairo at the age of 82 after a struggle with illness.
The funerary prayer will be held on Thursday at noon at Al-Rahman Al-Rahim Mosque in Cairo, his brother, famous lawyer Asem Kandil, told local media.
Born in 1936 in Cairo, Kandil started his career in broadcasting in 1961 with the news show Aqwal Al-Suhuf (In the Press), before he was appointed director of the Arab Broadcasting Studios Union in 1969.
Kandil was best known, however, for hosting political TV programmes starting the 1990s.
In the 2000s, he became a harsh critic of then-president Hosni Mubarak's regime.
In 2003, his programme on Egyptian national television, named ‘The Editor-in-Chief,’ was suspended after he fiercely criticised the Arab and Egyptian regimes for failing to support the second Palestinian Intifada.
He later moved to the United Arab Emirates and hosted another famous political show called Qalam Rusas (Pencil), which was also suspended after five years.
He got married in 1995 to Egyptian actress and 1970s and 80s movie star Naglaa Fathy.
Between 2010 and 2014, Kandil wrote columns for some notable independent Egyptian newspapers like El-Masry El-Youm and El-Shorouk.
He was known for his strong support for the 25 January 2011 revolution, which toppled president Mubarak’s regime. Prior to the revolution, Kandil co-founded the National Association for Change, a reformist group headed by Mohamed El-Baradei.
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