Egypt's opposition leader dies

2008-07-03 19:23

Cairo - The head of Egypt's Kefaya movement, which shot to fame for calling for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule, has died, the official MENA news agency said.

English literature professor Abdel Wahab al-Messiri, 70, who last year became the head of Kefaya (Enough), died of cancer on Wednesday night, MENA said.

Messiri succeeded George Itzhak as leader of the umbrella movement which was set up in 2004 to oppose the re-election of Mubarak, who had ruled Egypt since 1981.

Messiri, also an anti-Zionist scholar, former communist and Islamist, was briefly detained by Egyptian authorities in January and April of this year.

Kefaya managed to break through the taboo surrounding questioning Mubarak's role as sole candidate in presidential elections but had since failed to regain its momentum.

- AFP