CAIRO: Esteemed journalist and columnist Magdy Mehana lost his battle with liver cancer Friday after a long struggle with the disease. Mehana, a staunch liberal who was accredited for his objectivity, wrote a daily column for Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. He was also the host of a show on Dream TV where he put many on Egypt's movers and shakers in the hot seat. Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Sayed Tantawi led the funeral prayers for Mehana at Omar Makram Mosque Downtown, as well as for Ragae El-Nakash, a writer and critic who passed away on the same day. The funeral was attended by a large number of journalists and government officials. Prominent figures such as Gamal Mubarak, head of the National Democratic Party s policy secretariat, Mofid Shehab, minister of legal affairs, and Safwat Al-Sharif, head of the Shoura council - who were often the object of criticism in Mehana's columns - were all present at the funeral procession. Mehana graduated from the faculty of mass communication at Cairo University in 1978. He began his journalistic career at Rose Al-Youssef magazine, followed by a stint at Al-Wafd opposition party's newspaper, for which he was editor-in-chief for one year in 1999.
