Relations say Moustafa Bassiouni, an intrepid picture assistant and driver for The Related Press’ Cairo bureau, has died at age 64
Moustafa Bassiouni, second from proper, stands for a gaggle picture with AP employees in Cairo on Nov. 30, 2011. From left are Nariman El-Mofty, Manoocher Deghati, Amr Nabil, Nasser Nasser, Maya Alleruzzo, Moustafa and Khalil Hamra. Bassiouni, an intrepid picture assistant and driver for The Related Press’ Cairo bureau, has died at age 64. His household stated he died in a Cairo hospital on Saturday, June 10, 2023, after experiencing a coronary heart assault. (AP Picture)
The Related Press
CAIRO — Moustafa Bassiouni, an intrepid picture assistant and driver for The Related Press’ Cairo bureau, has died at age 64, relations stated Monday. They stated he died in a Cairo hospital on Saturday after experiencing a coronary heart assault.
Bassiouni, who began as a driver for the bureau in 1991, turned a pillar of the AP’s Cairo operation. Staffers relied on his road smarts and fast reflexes behind the wheel to cowl assignments throughout the large metropolis and wider Egypt.
He drove generations of AP photographers, writers, bureau chiefs and regional managers by way of the rule of former president Hosni Mubarak, the chaos that adopted Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring protests, and the 2013 ouster of the popularly elected however divisive president Mohammed Morsi. He was later promoted to picture assistant due to his inventiveness in gaining access to tough areas, together with as soon as by horseback. He retired in 2019.
“Moustafa was our driver, translator, fixer and most of all good friend,” stated AP’s Deputy Director of Pictures for World Enterprise, Enric Marti, who was primarily based in Cairo from 1995 to 2001. “I personally wouldn’t have survived with out him. And he additionally was one of many funniest individuals I’ve ever met.”
He was additionally a second set of eyes, vigilant and steadfast in precarious conditions. AP photographer Amr Nabil recalled how Bassiouni spirited him again to Cairo after he sustained a grave eye damage whereas overlaying a 2005 anti-government protest in a Nile Delta city. Nabil stated he could be finishing this yr’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, an obligation for all Muslims, in his former colleague’s honor.
Bassiouni was remembered by colleagues for his heat smile and an infectious chuckle that echoed throughout the newsroom, but in addition his blunt expressions of frustration with Cairo’s snarling visitors.
“He was an exquisite individual; beneficiant, humorous, sensible and dedicated,” stated Santiago Lyon, former director of pictures for the AP who was primarily based in Cairo between 1991-1995. “He really understood the worth of the work.”
Bassiouni is survived by his son Ahmed, daughters Reham and Sarah, and his spouse, Manal.