Ahmed Saeed is dead but his legacy lives on

No one would have thought that the man whose voice was an iconic feature of Nasser era’s propaganda machine would die on the eve of that day that put his end to his career from 51 years.
No one would have imagined it but sometimes life could be stranger than fiction.
Late Monday 4th of June, news came from Cairo that veteran and famous radio host Ahmed Saeed passed away in his house. He was 93 years old.

Born in August 1925, Saeed is considered the founder of “Sawt Al-Arab” radio station in 1953.
Founded by the Free Officers in Egypt and aimed to support Arab countries’ quest for independence, “Sawt Al-Arab” or “The Voice of the Arabs” radio station was the No.1 Nasserite Propaganda mouthpiece in the Middle East region through radio waves for a whole decade.
The epic moment of “Sawt Al-Arab” radio station when it supported and helped the Algerian independence activist in their quest that France wanted to be jammed in Algeria.

It supported the independence of other Arab and African countries and Saeed became its voice and face with inflammatory style reminding the world in Arabic that “Sawt Al-Arab or the Voice of the Arabs call the Arab Nations from the heart of Cairo”
There is nothing bad about independence or freedom or pan Arabism but they can’t be associated well with dictatorship and Totalitarianism as well media control.
Saeed was the director of “Sawt Al-Arab” from its launch July 1953 till his resignation in September 1967.

Ahmed Saeed at State-owned Sawt Al-Arab in 1958

The Defeat/setback radio host

The fifth of June 1967 changed the lives of millions in the Middle East directly including Ahmed Saeed.

Since the early morning of 5th June 1967 and as the Israeli air forces' jets were hammering Egyptian military posts as well civilian Suez Cities advancing in our territories, Saeed was stationed at “Sawt Al-Arab” radio station announcing in victorious act that Egyptian air defenses downed tens of Israeli air forces jets and how our troops were too close to Tel Aviv.
Millions of Egyptians believed for several hours those announcements that actually came from the Ministry of defense or as it was called then the Ministry of war.
But then they felt something was wrong as word of mouth came about the disaster that took place in Suez Canal cities as well those who lived nearby military bases began to speak.
Sooner Egyptians began to turn in to BBC Arabic radio service as well as France’s Monte-Carlo’s Arabic service to know the sad truth.
The Egyptian army was not near Tel Aviv, it was attacked and was actually chased in the desert of Sinai in the most humiliating way ever.

On that day, the majority of Egyptians turned their back to Nasser’s populist propaganda media to wake up to the worst defeat for the Egyptian army since the 19th century.

Ahmed Saeed’s own personal career ended on 5 June 1967 when Nasser regime presented to the public to be stoned and crucified as the radio host who lied on the public.
Realistically speaking, Saeed was only reading the statements issued by the ministry of war in time of Nasser rule. He did not have many options, it was that or he may spend the rest of his life in some prison.

Ahmed Saeed at Sawt Al-Arab radio

He was the weakest link and he was presented as a scapegoat to the public.

The veteran radio host presented his own resignation as the director of “Sawt Al-Arab” in September 1967.
Despite what happened to him in 1967, Ahmed Saeed remained loyal to President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Nasserism.

Then he disappeared with all the political changes that took place in Egypt and its regime’s media machine.
He re-emerged shortly during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 annoyed on how his name was associated with Saeed al-Sahhaf, the minister of information in Saddam’s regime then.

Unfortunately, his name was no longer associated with the Algerian War of Independence or Aden War of Independence. His name is associated with media propaganda and deceptions.
Ahmed Saeed’s name is the defeat/setback radio host (The Nasser regime called the Six Days war defeat as a setback).

A tittle that would accompany him for the rest of his life even in his death especially that nationalist propaganda is back in force.
Some like and envy the Nasserite experience in Media !!
TV hosts may not call for the independence of other countries but they are still spreading lies and fake achievements in the same way or even worse.
The head of Egypt’s Supreme Council for media Hussein Zein issued a statement mourning the death of Saeed on Tuesday and it was really honest statement despite many may disagree.

He said in the statement that Ahmed Saeed had “purposeful professional media” career with a great contribution in developing and upgrading the Egyptian radio.
Zein added that many generations learned from him as an example to follow in professionalism !!!!!!!
Believe it or not, this is a very honest statement to be issued by a man heading a 100% Pro-regime body regulating and supervising Media in Egypt currently.
That “purposeful professional media” in the eyes of Pro-regime media is what it is currently doing from misleading the public for the sake of the regime.
Few of them will see it something wrong or even regret it in the future. One thing for sure, the man did not make huge fortunate and wealth as nowadays TV hosts.

Ahmed Saeed has passed away but his legacy is still there.
We lived shortly without it for three years following the ouster of Mubarak but it is back with the rise of the alt-right propaganda media machine back in the world.
Sadly it takes a bitter defeat like the six days defeat to make the people wake up.

May God bless the soul of Ahmed Saeed and bring patience for his truly beloved ones who loved truly as a human being.