Mohamed Refaat El-Saeed

During the 1940s and 1950s, El-Saeed was active in the Democratic Movement for National Liberation (Haditu) and was seen as close to the leader of the movement, Henri Curiel.^[1] He was arrested in the 1958 crackdown on communist activities, and would spend four years in jail.^[2]

When the Tagammu party was founded, El-Saeed served as its organizational secretary.^[1] Within Tagammu, El-Saeed was identified with the tendency that he was willing to enter into compromises with the regime of Hosni Mubarak.^[1] Notably, under his leadership Tagammu was the sole opposition party not to boycott the 1990 election.^[5] In early 1995 Tagammu accepted the presidential nomination of El-Saeed to the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament.^[6]

For El-Saeed, the tactical alliance with Mubarak stemmed from a desire to block the Muslim Brotherhood to advance its influence in Egyptian politics.^[5] El-Saeed's consistent fierce opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood constitutes a key component of his political discourse and authorship.^[4] He dedicated many of his written works to this subject (such as Contre L'Integrisme Islamiste in French).^[1][4] In response to his line on political Islam, he was placed in prominent positions on the death lists of militant groups.^[1]

Within Tagammu, El-Saeed remained a controversial figure due to his links to Mubarak.^[1][2][7] Some sectors of the party disagreed with his hardline stance against the Muslim Brotherhood.^[4] Dissent in the party erupted again following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, as 73 Central Committee members of the party resigned in protest of El-Saeed's leadership. In particular the participation of Tagammu in the 2010 elections was a bone of contention.^[7]

El-Saeed died on 17 August 2017 at the age of 84.^[8]