Courtesy of Dar El Ma’aref (dar-elmarf.com)
On February 24 2013, beloved Egyptian author Mahmoud Salem died at the age of 84. He is perhaps most famous for writing serial books for children under the titles of “The Five Adventurers” and “The 13 Devils”. Most adults still remember the heroes of those books, namely Takhtakh, which means ‘chubby’ in Egyptian Arabic, and his detective pal Loza.
Most recently, he wrote a series of political articles for Tahrir Newspaper. On 22 February, the newspaper published an article in which he criticised the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Egypt, El Mahrousa –the protected one– is donned in black. Everything in it is sad, dark and melancholy, and Qandil’s government is still blaming the Mubarak regime. Why did you [the Muslim Brotherhood] race to rule Egypt? Why did you make empty promises? ” Salem questioned in his article.
Salem reportedly suffered from a heart condition but refused to have an operation to correct the problem, saying that he was too old.
