Nafae served for over a decade as chair of Egypt's independent since 1985 and of the General Union of Arab Journalists from 1996 to 2012. 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. Nafae died of cancer on 1 January 2018, 11 days before his 84th birthday, in Dubai after undergoing surgery.