''Al Misri'' ( ar, المصري, lit=The Egyptian) was a nationalist newspaper which was published in Cairo, Egypt, between 1936 and 1954. The paper was one of the most read newspapers during its lifetime and closed down by the Egyptian authorities on 4 May 1954.

History and profile

''Al Misri'' was established by Karim Thabit, Muhammad Al Tabai and Mahmoud Abu Al Fath in 1936. Elie Politi, a leading Jewish businessman, assisted the foundation of the paper. Soon after its start Mahmoud Abu Al Fath bought the paper for a few thousand dollars and made it an official media outlet of the

Wafd Party The Wafd Party (; ar, حزب الوفد, ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930 ...

. Mahmoud Abu Al Fath's younger siblings worked at the paper: Hussein Abu Al Fath was the managing editor, and Ahmad Abu Al Fath was the editor of ''Al Misri''. Following the acquisition of the paper by Mahmoud Abu Al Fath ''Al Misri'' adopted a nationalist political stance. The paper sold 100,000 copies, making it both a financial success and an influential political force. It also became a competitor of '' Al Ahram''. In July 1939 the editors' houses were searched on the orders of the public prosecutor due to the fierce opposition of the Waft Party against the government. During the same period ''Al Misri'' was among the ardent critics of the Muslim Brotherhood which began to gain more members in the society. Beginning with

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the Egyptian government restricted the page number of all papers, including ''Al Misri'', to six pages due to the shortage of paper. Although the war ended and the paper supply was improved, the page number of the newspapers was set at eight pages by the government. As of 1950 ''Al Misri'' had twelve-page. The affiliation of ''Al Misri'' with the Wafd Party weakened after World War II. However, it did not completely disappear, and the paper published numerous articles supporting the

North African North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

independence in line with the party policies in 1947. ''Al Misri'' sold 150,000 copies in 1953. In May 1954 the Fath brothers were accused of being disloyal to the national interests following the publication of several articles in the paper demanding Gamal Abdel Nasser to follow the policies of the Wafd Party. The paper was banned on 4 May 1954. Soon after the closure of ''Al Misri'' its publishing facilities were used for the publication of the state-run newspaper ''

Al Gomhuria ''Al Gomhuria'' ( ar, الجمهورية; en, The Republic) is an influential state-owned Egyptian Arabic language daily newspaper. History and profile ''Al Gomhuria'' was established in 1954 following the Egyptian revolution and became the ne ...

'' which was launched the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Misri 1936 establishments in Egypt 1954 disestablishments in Egypt Arabic-language newspapers Banned newspapers Censorship in Egypt Defunct newspapers published in Egypt Newspapers established in 1936 Newspapers published in Cairo Publications disestablished in 1954 Arab nationalism in Egypt