Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid,
A Cairo court had declared Abu Zeid an "apostate" in 1995 after a complaint by a group of Islamist lawyers who accused him of heresy in his research on the Koran.
He was also ordered to divorce his wife, based on the principle in Islamic law that a Muslim woman cannot marry an apostate.
Abu Zeid rejected the ruling and, fearing for his life, settled in the Netherlands, although he visited Egypt regularly.
He will be buried later on Monday in his home village of Kahafa in the Nile Delta.
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He was also ordered to divorce his wife, based on the principle in Islamic law that a Muslim woman cannot marry an apostate.
Abu Zeid rejected the ruling and, fearing for his life, settled in the Netherlands, although he visited Egypt regularly.
He will be buried later on Monday in his home village of Kahafa in the Nile Delta.
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