Egyptian Poet Ahmed Fouad Negm Dies, Aged 84

Ahmed Fouad Negm, aslang poet with one of the most important body of works throughout Egypt andArabian countries, has died today.

Funeral prayers will be held in Al Hussainmosque after the noon prayers, and his body will be buried in Al Ghafirgraveyard. Consolation will be received in Bilal Ibn Rabah mosque in Moqatamafter the dusk prayers. Ahmed Fouad Negm wasborn in Kafr Abu-Negm village in Abu Hammad city, Sharqiya, in 1929.

Negm isone of the most prominent leftists in Egypt, and was long pursued andimprisoned several times by consecutive regimes. In 2007 he was chosen by the ArabicGroup in the Poverty Reduction Fund in the United Nations as an ambassador forthe poor.

A biographical film was made about him, entitled "Al Fagoomy,"and was inspired by his diaries.