Born in Suez, he received a bachelor's degree from Ain Shams University in 1956 before beginning his career as a Reuters reporter.
[1] Haaretz wrote that Nafae "faithfully transmitted" the policies of Egyptian Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak and that as president of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, he "shaped Egypt's propaganda policy and defined the borders of self-censorship by the press.
[4] Nafae served for over a decade as chair of Egypt's independent[clarification needed] since 1985 and of the General Union of Arab Journalists from 1996 to 2012.
[2] Nafae was close to President Mubarak, and after the 2011 uprising, left to France for medical checkups.
His health deteriorated in late 2017, and several writers called for Egyptian authorities to allow him to return to the country.