'We prayed the revolution would succeed,'

摘要

says Magdy El Galad,the editor-in-chief of Al-MasryAl-Youm, the largest independent newspaper in Egypt. "Because if it failed, we would have been assassinated." A wry smile crosses his face. He's joking, sort of. It's Saturday afternoon, a working day in Cairo, and El Galad-who is 47 and reed-thin, with a sallow countenance and jet-black mustache that make him look a little like the old Saturday Night Live char acter Father Guido Sarducci-is seated at a table in his dimly lit office, sipping tea. He keeps three cell phones and a pack of cigarettes close at hand as he marks up pages about to go to press. The early edition of the Sunday paper goes on sale at 9 p.m., and El Galad has a little more than two hours to decide what to put on the front page.