Leader of Egyptian movement dies

Al-Messiri led Kefaya, which opposes Hosni Mubarak's presidency [EPA]

Prolific writer and scholar Abdel Wahab Al-Messiri has died.

Al-Messiri, who led an Egyptian movement demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule, died of cancer on Wednesday, said Hossam Tokan, director of the Palestine Hospital in Cairo.

The 70-year-old was a professor at Cairo's Ain Shams University and was elected coordinator of the Egyptian Movement for Change, or Kefaya (Enough), in 2007.

The umbrella movement was set up in 2004 to oppose the reelection of Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981.

Intellectual 'giant'

Al-Messiri, who earned his master's and doctorate degrees in the US, was considered one of the Arab world's leading experts on Jewish and Israeli affairs, compiling an eight-volume encyclopedia on Jews, Judaism and Zionism.

"Dr. Messiri was a giant intellectual pillar of Arab culture," Amin Eskander, a Kefaya leader, told Al Jazeera.

He has also published works about philosophy, secularism and modernism.

As leader of the Kefaya movement, Al-Messiri also spent a lot of time on the streets, protesting Egyptian policies.

Fighting against policy

"He was always there in the middle of demonstrations, undeterred by repression and threats," Eskander said. "He will always be present through his work and legacy among Arab intellectuals and in the hearts of the Egyptian people."