The journalist and most famous Tunisian film critic, Taher El Meligy, died in a hospital in the capital, Tunis, after a struggle with illness that lasted for years.
Al-Meligy died, at the age of 86, as in his last years he asked the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to financially help him.
The family of Taher El Meligy announced his death, and the Tunisian Ministry of Culture issued a statement mourning Taher El Meligy and reminding him of his career.
“The Ministry of Cultural Affairs mourns, with heartbreak and sorrow, the great journalist and critic Taher El-Meligy, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 86,” the ministry’s statement said.
The statement added: “The late Taher El-Meligy is called the historian of artists, a Tunisian actor, writer and journalist who worked for a long time on the radio and was close to the life of artists in all its details, and he was known for his encyclopedic memory and his great love for the world of art and culture.”
He continued: “The late journalist and critic Taher El-Meligy is credited with his success in establishing a special relationship with the Tunisian public with his distinguished style of presentation and his remarkable ability to attract the attention of his followers.”
Taher El Meligy was born in 1936 on the island of Kerkennah in the governorate of Sfax, south of the capital, Tunis.
Taher El Meligy succeeded in establishing a special relationship with the Tunisian public through radio and television programs and variety.
The deceased has many programs and books on Tunisian music and arts, including “The Rashidi Institute and the Musical Al-Zaraj”, “The Impact of the Beys on the Musical Life in Tunisia”, and “The Jews of Tunisia and their Impact on the Artistic Arena”.
Taher El-Meligy also wrote a number of Tunisian songs, including “You are my concern, Bali.”
It is noteworthy that Taher El-Meligy appeared in 2018 in a video clip that was published on the social network, and he is in a difficult situation and shows signs of illness and poverty.
El-Meligy asked the Ministry of Culture to help him with a monthly grant especially He suffers from poverty.