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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 July - 4 August 1999 Issue No. 440 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 July - 4 August 1999 Issue No. 440
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters A great loss
By Nadia Abou El-Magd
A speeding BMW car hit and killed Horreya Ahmed Hussein, her husband Magdi Habib and their only daughter Nevine on Sunday in Beirut where the family was vacationing.
Horreya Ahmed Hussein
Nevine Magdi Habib
The family was crossing the street on the Beirut-Jounieh highway when the car hit them. Hussein and her husband died immediately. Their daughter died in hospital three hours later.
Hundreds attended the funeral on Tuesday including Ibrahim Nafie, the chairman of the press syndicate, Al-Ahram's board chairman and chief editor, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, board chairman of Dar Al-Hilal and chief editor of the weekly Al-Mussawar, Labour Party leader Ibrahim Shukri and many others.
Egyptian journalists are still in shock and grieving the loss of Hussein and her daughter Nevine who worked with Al-Ahram Hebdo. Hussein's husband, Magdi Habib, was financial manager at the Arab Contractors.
Horreya Hussein is the daughter of Ahmed Hussein, the founder and leader of the Young Egypt Party in the 1930s, and a leading political figure in the country before 1952. She is also the niece and sister respectively of Adel Hussein, secretary-general of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party, and Magdi Hussein, the chief editor of the party's bi-weekly newspaper, Al-Shaab.
Horreya's name, which means freedom in Arabic, was no accident. It expressed her father's longing for the liberation of Egypt which was still under British occupation when Hussein and her twin sister Iman were born in 1944.
"Horreya was influenced by and very close to our father. When she was very young she started to read a lot and liked writing and journalism. Our father recognised these talents and encouraged her a lot," Ihsan, Horreya's youngest sister, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Horreya, a commerce-faculty graduate, joined Al-Ahram thirty years ago. She worked in different sections and covered a wide range of subjects including women, youth, art and Arab politics. There is hardly any Arab country that Hussein did not visit for news coverage more than once. She contributed to the establishment of the Arab affairs section a few years ago, and was acting editor of the section when she died.
Horreya covered the first direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis in Cairo and Taba after the Oslo Accords in 1993. One of her last assignments was covering Kuwait's legislative elections earlier this month. Hussein was also in charge of the Arab Panorama page.
