Egypt: Egyptian film-maker Yousuf Shaheen dies at 82

(SomaliNet) After spending weeks in a coma, Egyptian film-maker Yousuf Shaheen, Arab cinema\'s most celebrated director, died on Sunday at the age of 82.

\"Yousuf Shaheen died this morning at 3:30,\" said friend and fellow director Khaled Yussef, who co-directed Shaheen\'s latest film Chaos in 2007.

After a month-long stay in Paris where he underwent surgery after suffering a brain haemorrhage, Shaheen was flown back to Cairo on July 17.

Shaheen was being cared for at the Maadi Military hospital in south Cairo.

Shaheen\'s eclectic work made him one of the few Egyptian directors to gain an audience abroad, particularly in Europe and France, where he won a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

Shaheen made his first film in Egypt in 1950 and it was there that he also discovered and launched the career of Omar Sharif, who shot to international stardom with Lawrence of Arabia.-Agencies