سمار الليالي

An Egyptian writer who served as Minister of Culture in 1973, head of the Al-Ahram Foundation and the Syndicate of Journalists. He presented 22 short story collections and published dozens of novels, the last of which was The Age of the Moment in 1973. He was awarded the State Prize for Literature in 1973 and a large number of honors. He was not an ordinary writer, but was of a special type and politician, with a high degree of sophistication and intelligence. Editor-in-chief of a number of magazines, including Al-Resalah Al-Jadeeda, Akher Sa’a, Al-Musawwar and Al-Ahram Newspaper. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat appointed him Minister of Culture, and he held his position until he was assassinated in Cyprus on February 18, 1978, because of his support for Sadat's initiative to make peace with Israel since he traveled to Jerusalem in 1977. He was assassinated in Cyprus on February 18, 1978, while he was attending an Asian-African conference there. . Two men killed him in an operation that affected the Egyptian-Cypriot relations and led Egypt to sever its relations with Cyprus. The Abu Nidal Organization was later accused of the crime.