Egyptian veteran political journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal passed away on 17 February 2016 aged 93 years old. Heikal was editor-in-chief of the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram for 17 years (1957-1974) and has been a commentator on Arab affairs for more than 50 years. He worked as a ghostwriter for the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and represented the ideology of pan-Arabism. Heikal was appointed minister of information in 1970 but resigned from government in 1974 over differences with president Anwar Sadat.