I am not good in writing obituaries especially for people I knew personally and who have touched my life.
Earlier Sunday , news came that veteran Egyptian journalist Hany Shukrallah passed away in his house at the age of 69 years old.
A prominent figure in Egypt’s English speaking press as well Arabic speaking press , Shukrallah served as Ahram Weekly’s managing editor for several years, nearly from 1991 to 2005, and the executive editor in chief from 2003-2005 in its golden years.
In November 2010 , he founded Ahram Online and served as its editor-in-chief for two years and I remember till this day how it has raised the bar for state-owned news website during then.
The leftist journalist also was among the journalists who founded independent daily Al-Shorouk newspaper.
He was also one of the pioneers in Egypt to launch true local journalism service "Welad al-Balad" to serve districts and governorates in Egypt in a successful attempt to break the Cairo centralization complex in press.
Personally , I was lucky enough to know Hany Shukrallah.
In fact he was among people I owe in my life for transforming me from a blogger to a journalist in one of Egypt’s toughest and yet the greatest years to be journalist when it comes to freedom of expression.
He was a mentor to me and to many others.
Shukrallah was an example of how you can stick to your principles and not to give up on them especially in hard times.
Sadly I was preparing in the past two days a post about World Freedom Day and how press was struggling in Egypt then the news hit me in the face.
In a sad irony , I was going to write about how “Belahmer”, the leftist news and political website co-founded by Shukrallah was blocked in Egypt few weeks from his launch. It is just sad.
May Allah bless this soul and bring patience to his family , friends and students.
Earlier Sunday , news came that veteran Egyptian journalist Hany Shukrallah passed away in his house at the age of 69 years old.
A prominent figure in Egypt’s English speaking press as well Arabic speaking press , Shukrallah served as Ahram Weekly’s managing editor for several years, nearly from 1991 to 2005, and the executive editor in chief from 2003-2005 in its golden years.
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| Hany Shukrallah by Hossam El-Hamalawy |
In November 2010 , he founded Ahram Online and served as its editor-in-chief for two years and I remember till this day how it has raised the bar for state-owned news website during then.
The leftist journalist also was among the journalists who founded independent daily Al-Shorouk newspaper.
He was also one of the pioneers in Egypt to launch true local journalism service "Welad al-Balad" to serve districts and governorates in Egypt in a successful attempt to break the Cairo centralization complex in press.
Personally , I was lucky enough to know Hany Shukrallah.
In fact he was among people I owe in my life for transforming me from a blogger to a journalist in one of Egypt’s toughest and yet the greatest years to be journalist when it comes to freedom of expression.
He was a mentor to me and to many others.
Shukrallah was an example of how you can stick to your principles and not to give up on them especially in hard times.
Sadly I was preparing in the past two days a post about World Freedom Day and how press was struggling in Egypt then the news hit me in the face.
In a sad irony , I was going to write about how “Belahmer”, the leftist news and political website co-founded by Shukrallah was blocked in Egypt few weeks from his launch. It is just sad.
May Allah bless this soul and bring patience to his family , friends and students.
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