- CAIRO: Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, a prominent Egyptian scholar once accused of apostasy for his contemporary interpretation of Islam, has died.
- He was 66.
Officials at the Cairo hospital where Abu Zeid had been receiving treatment for the past two weeks said the scholar died Monday from a brain infection. A close friend, Gaber Asfour, also confirmed Abu Zeid's death.
In 1995, Islamist lawyers filed a lawsuit against Abu Zeid, demanding he divorce his wife because his writings insulted Islam. A court ordered Abu Zeid to divorce, and the couple fled Egypt for fear of being attacked by Muslim fundamentalists.
Abu Zeid later won the case on appeal, but remained abroad. He spent most of the last ten years in the Netherlands where he joined Leiden University.