[3] El Alem was also the head of the administrative board of Akhbar el-Yom[4] and editor of several newspapers and magazines, including Rose al-Yūsuf, ar-Risala al-gadida, Magallat al-musawwir, and Qadaya fikriyya.
[citation needed] El Alem was expelled from the King Fuad University in 1954 for his political positions, which prevented from defending his doctoral thesis.
[6][5] Thereafter, he became a political prisoner from 1959–1963 because of his refusal to dissolve the Egyptian Communist Party into the Socialist Union set up by then President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
[7] El Alem was later appointed head of the National Theater Committee and became Director of Akhbar el-Yom Press Company.
[6] Once Anwar Sadat assumed the presidency of Egypt, El Alem strongly opposed the Egyptian "Infitah" (policy of economic liberalization).