Nawal El Saadawi, renowned author, physician and the face of Egypt’s feminist movement, died in a Cairo hospital on Sunday, Egyptian state media reported. She was 89.
Her daughter, Mona Helmy, said El Saadawi was taken to hospital after her health deteriorated while she was recovering from an accident in which she broke her left thigh. She is also survived by a son.
Internationally recognised with coveted prizes, El Saadawi has written about 50 books in Arabic, including novels, short stories and memoirs. Many were translated to other languages.
She made her campaign for women’s equality in Egypt her life’s mission.
But her views were considered too radical for many in patriarchal and conservative Egypt, where the vast majority of its 100 million people are Muslim.
El Saadawi's liberal critiques of religious matters, tradition and customs earned her scathing criticism, and sometimes retaliation.
"Her legacy is particularly admired by those who already are revolutionary or liberal," Azza Heikal, a prominent feminist writer and professor of English and comparative literature, told The National.
"But I think that for many more her ideas were not applicable, which made her a truly controversial figure.
“In my view, she might have benefited from a little more diplomacy in her work.
"I think her attacks on religion were a little bit misguided as I and many other feminists think that religion can be beneficial and respectful towards women."
But such criticism never forced El Saadawi to tone down her lifelong views on society, or her criticism of male domination and a system that left qualified women inferior to men in most professions.
Her main battleground was female genital mutilation, a common practice in the Middle East and Africa that researchers trace back to Pharaonic times.
It is ostensibly meant to curtail women's desire, consequently reinforcing their virtue.
El Saadawi was a victim of the practice at the age of 6. It is now a crime but continues to be practised.
That she raised the issue and campaigned against female genital mutilation at a time when no one in Egypt could publicly speak against it is a testament to her courage and integrity.
She has also long held the belief that the Muslim veil was not prescribed by Islam and that it was another method of shackling women.
Female genital mutilation and the veil continue to be debated in Egypt along the lines of El Saadawi’s argument.
She was born in 1931, the second of nine children to a couple living in the Nile Delta just north of Cairo. Her father was a government official.
"I was brought up in two different classes: the poor peasant class of my father and the upper bourgeois class of my mother, who went to French schools and wanted to ride horses and play the piano," El Saadawi told The Guardian in 2015.
“He was 30, she was 15. Of course, my parents preferred my older brother. But he was spoilt, and he didn’t study, and was always failing, while I was good in school.
"So they began to support me. They wanted to marry me off when I was 10 but when I rebelled, my mother stood with me.”
Her disenchantment and dismay with patriarchy endured for the rest of her days.
El Saadawi was married and divorced three times. The third marriage ended with what she took to be a confirmation of the hypocrisy of many men in a patriarchal society.
“I lived with him for 43 years and I told everyone: this is the only feminist man on earth," she said.
"And then I had to divorce him, too. He was a liar. He was having relations with other women.
"Oh, the complexity of the patriarchal character. He wrote books about gender equality and then he betrayed his wife.”
El Saadawi’s views were not restricted to women’s rights. She was a sharp critic of Anwar Sadat, Egypt’s president of 11 years, who is widely blamed for tolerating extremist groups.
Sadat was shot dead by radical Islamists in 1981.
She was among about 1,500 dissidents rounded up and jailed by Sadat shortly before his assassination. She was released shortly after Hosni Mubarak took office in October 1981.
But things were not any easier for her under Mubarak, who was forced to step down by a popular uprising in which she took part 10 years ago.
El Saadawi received death threats because of her radical views on religion and she was generally censored.
Fearing for her life and isolated at the behest of the government, she left the country to live in exile, lecturing or going on talk tours at universities in Europe and the US. She returned home in 1996.
In 2004, she considered running against Mubarak in the first presidential election that allowed more than one candidate.
El Saadawi said she dropped out of the race because of a campaign of intimidation by authorities against residents of her home village in the Nile Delta.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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All you need to know about Formula E in Saudi Arabia
What The Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix
When Saturday
Where Diriyah in Saudi Arabia
What time Qualifying takes place from 11.50am UAE time through until the Super Pole session, which is due to end at 12.55pm. The race, which will last for 45 minutes, starts at 4.05pm.
Who is competing There are 22 drivers, from 11 teams, on the grid, with each vehicle run solely on electronic power.
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Brown/Black belt finals
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
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