‘Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (b. 1954) is an Egyptian general, the Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, the Minister of Defense, and the Deputy Prime Minister. He was appointed as Minister of Defense by post-Arab Spring president Muhammad Morsi, though al-Sisi became the most visible leader in the popular military coup that deposed Morsi in 2013. He is widely popular among most Egyptians for restoring secular rule and representative of the surge of nationalism that has swept Egypt since the coup, and is predicted to win May 2014 presidential elections. Al-Sisi has represented himself as religiously conservative, though not an Islamist.
Despite his popularity, Gen. al-Sisi has nonetheless been controversial among human rights activists. In June 2011, he defended “virginity tests” performed by the army against female Arab Spring protestors, claiming that they were to protect the women against rape, and to protect the army from accusations of raping protestors. During the following year, he assured human rights organization Amnesty International that the military would no longer use such tactics against detained women. Leftist groups wary of the growing authoritarianism of the transitional military government have questioned al-Sisi’s power, and some, including prominent activists, have been arrested under Egypt’s recent protest laws.
Sources:
BBC, “Profile: Egypt armed forces chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi,” BBC News, July 3, 2013, accessed January 14, 2014.
Patrick Kingsley, “Egyptian court jails three secular leaders of 2011 uprising,” The Guardian, December 22, 2013, accessed January 13, 2014.
Image Credits:
"Egyptian Minister of Defense General Abdul Fatah Khalil al-Sisi bids farewell to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after a meeting in Cairo, Egypt on November 3, 2013," U.S. Department of State, modified from Wikimedia Commons.
