Mohammed Refaat El-Saeed (Arabic: محمد رفعت السعيد Muhammad Rifaʻatu s-Saʻīd, 11 October 1932 – 17 August 2017) was an Egyptian politician, scholar and writer. He served as the general secretary of the National Progressive Unionist Party (Tagammu).[1] [2] El-Saeed held two doctorates in history, and was a part-time lecturer at the American University in Cairo.[1] El-Saeed was a frequent contributor to al-Ahali, the Tagammu party organ.[1]
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.[3]
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. In early 1995 Tagammu accepted the presidential nomination of El-Saeed to the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament.[4]
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.[6] He dedicated many of his written works to this subject (such as Contre L'Integrisme Islamiste in French).[1] [6] 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] [3] [7] Some sectors of the party disagreed with his hardline stance against the Muslim Brotherhood.[6] 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]