Farag Fouda

October

June 8, 1992, Egypt

Fouda, a columnist for the weekly magazine October, was gunned down and died the next day. A member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, a Muslim extremist group, allegedly committed the slaying. Fouda was an outspoken opponent of fundamentalism and was considered one of Egypt's leading secularists.

The government used his murder as a pretext for escalating its war against the fundamentalists and passed a draconian anti-terrorism law. Ironically, by the end of the year, Al-Azhar, Egypt's government-supported religious institution, had banned the sale of a new edition of Fouda's complete works.

Medium: Print

Job: Columnist / Commentator

Beats Covered: Corruption, Politics

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: No

Type of Death: Murder

Suspected Source of Fire: Political Group

Impunity: Yes

Taken Captive: No

Tortured: No

Threatened: No