49 Facts About Hamdi Qandil

Hamdi Qandil was a prominent Egyptian journalist, news anchor, talk show host and activist.

Hamdi Qandil later worked with UNESCO from 1974 to 1986, specializing in the field of international media.

Hamdi Qandil returned to Egyptian television in 1998, hosting the current affairs and press review talk show Ra'is el-Tahrir.

Hamdi Qandil was forced to quit Dubai TV after criticizing Arab governments and subsequently hosted the show on the Libyan channel Al-Libiya for two months before the Libyan government cancelled it.

Hamdi Qandil returned to Egypt and wrote for the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper and then Al-Shorouk, but his association with the latter ended as a result of a libel suit brought on by then-Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in response to a column critical of Egyptian foreign policy written by Qandil in May 2010.

Hamdi Qandil was well known for his pan-Arabist discourse and fierce criticism of the Egyptian and other Arab governments.

From September 2012, Hamdi Qandil had lent his support to the Egyptian Popular Current opposition movement.

Hamdi Qandil was born in Cairo in 1936 to a father from Menoufia.

Hamdi Qandil spent much of his childhood and had his primary schooling in the Nile Delta city of Tanta.

Hamdi Qandil was at the top of his class throughout his later school years and initially sought to enter the medical profession, a typical career aspiration for students with high marks.

Hamdi Qandil simultaneously took an interest in writing, Arabic calligraphy and foreign languages.

Hamdi Qandil was introduced to journalism when he began writing a secondary school research paper.

Hamdi Qandil was fired soon after, but had since grown fond of journalism.

Hamdi Qandil instead enrolled in the department of geology at Alexandria University.

Hamdi Qandil spent two months studying geology and decided to retake his high school examinations in order to enter into medical school.

Hamdi Qandil performed well and was admitted to Cairo University's Qasr El-Ainy Faculty of Medicine in 1953.

Hamdi Qandil continued in his studies until 1956, by which time Nasser had become president.

The magazine's first edition was confiscated due to an article Hamdi Qandil wrote that was critical of university professors and regulations.

Shortly after completing his final exams in 1956, Hamdi Qandil was offered a writing position with Akher Sa'a magazine by its owners, the prominent journalists and brothers Mustafa Amin and Ali Amin.

Hamdi Qandil was asked by Amin to serve as an editor for Akher Sa'a in 1961.

That year Hamdi Qandil attended the International Union of Students in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he met Yasser Arafat, then the head of the General Union of Palestinian Students.

Later in 1956 Hamdi Qandil was accepted into the department of journalism, obtaining a license in journalism in 1960.

In 1961 Hamdi Qandil began to work in broadcast television as the presenter of the program Aqwal al-Suhf.

In 1966 he became a media adviser to a television studio in Jordan, a role which ended after six weeks; the single broadcast of Aqwal al-Suhuf in Jordan was met with consternation from the Jordanian royal government and after Hamdi Qandil was notified of this disapproval, he immediately returned to Egypt where he continued presenting the program.

In early May 1971 Hamdi Qandil left the ABSU after refusing to launch a disciplinary investigation of the technical team that recorded the Labor Day speech given by Anwar Sadat, who became president following Nasser's death in 1970.

Hamdi Qandil left at a time when numerous broadcasters and media personalities were removed from their positions during Sadat's Corrective Revolution.

Hamdi Qandil was appointed manager of the Department of the Free Flow of Information and Communication Policies for UNESCO in 1974.

Together with partners from Egypt and the Arab world, Hamdi Qandil co-founded the Eastern Satellite Communications Company in 1987.

Hamdi Qandil worked at MBC for roughly three months until he quit, citing political differences with the station's managers, who considered him a Nasserist.

In 1998 Hamdi Qandil responded favorably to the invitation of Safwat El-Sherif, the Information Minister in Hosni Mubarak's government, to return to Egyptian television.

Ra'is el-Tahrir was intended to serve as a weekly review of the pan-Arab press, but in practice the program became a medium through which Hamdi Qandil expressed his opinions on various issues confronting Egypt and the Arab world, views which he claimed were representative of the popular Egyptian sentiment.

Hamdi Qandil continued to express his frustrations regarding the Israel and the Intifada, the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, and what he perceived as the United States' maligned intentions for the Middle East.

In 2004 Hamdi Qandil moved to the United Arab Emirates began hosting a program on Dubai TV called Qalam Rosas.

Qalam Rosas would normally open with Hamdi Qandil interviewing an Arab intellectual and discussing a current event.

At its closing, Hamdi Qandil would summarize the show with a well-known maxim or saying.

In 2008 Hamdi Qandil was forced to leave Dubai TV for criticizing Arab leaders, while commending Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of the Lebanese political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah.

Hamdi Qandil's show was cancelled when the state-owned Al Jamahiriya Radio's General Authority took control of the channel.

Hamdi Qandil was reportedly offered to present Qalam Rosas on the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar TV in early 2009, but opted not to join citing an unclear situation regarding his contract with Al-Libia.

Hamdi Qandil co-founded and served as the media spokesman for National Association for Change headed by Mohamed ElBaradei in early 2010.

In June 2010 Hamdi Qandil quit his position as the NAC's media spokesman.

Hamdi Qandil did not give an official reason for resigning, but was reportedly upset that ElBaradei was frequently outside of Egypt.

Hamdi Qandil did not join any of Egypt's Nasserist political parties or organizations, but viewed the era of late president Nasser as a period in which his "generation was taught self-respect, national pride and the courage to stand up against the great powers".

Hamdi Qandil was vociferously opposed to United States foreign policy in the Middle East.

Hamdi Qandil referred to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 as the "biggest modern disaster for the Arabs since 1948," the year in which the newly established state of Israel defeated a coalition of Arab armies, causing a mass exodus of Palestinians from their homes.

Hamdi Qandil supported the 2011 Egyptian revolution and called for Mubarak to step down from the start of the protests.

In late September 2012, during the post-revolution period in Egypt during Mohamed Morsi's presidency, Hamdi Qandil announced his support for the Egyptian Popular Current movement founded by Sabahi.

At the inaugural conference, Hamdi Qandil stated that "a major political battle" would soon be launched for the next parliamentary elections and that Egypt's diverse make-up could never be changed.

Hamdi Qandil met and married Egyptian actress Naglaa Fathi in 1992.

Hamdi Qandil died on 31 October 2018 after a long illness, aged 82.