Arab author, women’s rights icon Saadawi dies in Cairo

Famed Egyptian author Nawal El Saadawi, a champion of women’s rights in the Arab world, died Sunday at the age of 89, Al Ahram newspaper said.

Saadawi died in a Cairo hospital after suffering a long illness, her family said.

A prolific author who shot to fame with widely translated novel “Women at Point Zero” (1975), Saadawi was a fierce advocate for women’s empowerment in Egypt.

With more than 55 books to her name, she was briefly jailed by late president Anwar Sadat.

In 1993, Saadawi moved to Duke University in the US state of North Carolina, where she was a writer-in-residence at the Asian and African languages department for three years.

She returned to Egypt and in 2005 ran for president but abandoned her bid after accusing security forces of not allowing her to hold rallies.

Saadawi’s death coincides with Mother’s Day celebrations in Egypt and across the Arab world. She divorced three times and had two children.