Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Biography

Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi was born on November 19, 1954, in Old Cairo, Egypt, to Said Hussein Khalili al-Sisi and Soad Mohamed.

Sisi was raised in Gamaleya, near the al-Azhar Mosque, in a neighborhood consisting of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

Sisi's family was from the Monufia Governorate. Sisi is the second-born of the eight children of his parents. His father also had six children with another wife. Sisi thus has 13 siblings (including his half-siblings). One of his brothers is a senior judge, while another is a civil servant.

His father was a conservative Muslim and owned an antique shop at the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. He sold wooden craft items to tourists.

Sisi studied at the al-Azhar University. Eventually, Sisi joined a local army-run secondary school. Following this, he joined the Egyptian Military Academy and graduated in 1977.

Following his graduation from the academy, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi served in quite a few positions of command in the Egyptian Armed Forces. He was also appointed as Egypt's military attaché in Riyadh.

In 1987, Sisi joined the Egyptian Command and Staff College. In 1992, he attended the British Command and Staff College. He then joined the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 2006.

In 2010, he became the director of military intelligence of his country. In January and February, the following year, an uprising took place in Egypt and led to the fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Following this, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became the youngest member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), a senior military officers’ group that started governing Egypt.

In August 2012, Sisi was promoted to the defense minister and the commander of the armed forces. It is believed, the then-president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, had made the senior members of the SCAF retire and had then promoted Sisi to the top position.

In 2013, a revolt known as the Tamarrud (“Rebellion”) started taking shape in Egypt. The protestors demanded Morsi’s removal by an early election.

On June 30 that year, the protests escalated, and people chanted Sisi’s name while demanding he oust Morsi. On July 1, Sisi gave Morsi an ultimatum. Morsi was thus required to sort out the crisis within 48 hours or be ready to face the army’s intervention.

Morsi tried to negotiate but refused to step down or be part of an early election. Thus, on July 3, the Egyptian military deposed Morsi and then arrested him. Adly Mansour was made the interim president, but Sisi remained the defense minister and held the real power.

The interim government tried to control the Muslim Brotherhood and also cracked down on a few liberal opponents. On July 8, the military opened fire and killed over 50 people protesting against the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

On August 14, 2013, the police carried out what is now known as the Rabaa massacre. The operation, launched to disperse protestors outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo, killed hundreds of civilians and injured thousands of others. It was condemned by leaders all over the world. In the days that followed, over a thousand people were killed in the crackdown.

On March 26, 2014, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi retired from his military position, declaring his candidature for the Egyptian presidential election that year. The election was held on May 26 and 28. Sisi competed against the only opponent, Hamdeen Sabahi.

Sisi won with 97% of the total votes cast in his favor. On June 8, 2014, he was sworn in as the next president of Egypt.

As the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi faced a number of attacks by Islamist terrorists. There were many attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, especially after an extremist group sided with the Islamic State in 2014. Sisi launched huge operations to crack down on such militants.

Sisi expanded part of the Suez Canal and slowly invested in a lot of infrastructural projects. However, various human rights groups from around the world accused Sisi’s government of being too brutal against political opponents and journalists. He was accused of using detention, torture, confiscation of assets, and travel restrictions as weapons against his opponents.

In March 2018, Sisi was re-elected. However, critics doubted if the elections had been fair, as many strong candidates had been prevented from contesting due to legal and procedural reasons.

This left Abdel Fattah el-Sisi facing a relatively weak candidate, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, as the main opponent. Interestingly, Mousa himself had been a Sisi supporter before the elections. Sisi won with over 97% of votes in his favor.

In September 2020, thousands of Egyptians gathered on the streets and protested against Sisi’s regime, demanding his resignation. Viral videos on various social-media channels showed protestors chanting slogans and holding banners, asking him to step down. Many people set police cars on fire and hurled stones at security personnel. Most of these protests took place in the al-Basateen district, in southern Cairo.

While he was studying at the army-run secondary school, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi developed a relationship with Entissar Amer, who was his maternal cousin.

In 1977, following his graduation from the Egyptian Military Academy, Sisi got married to Entissar.

Sisi and Entissar have three sons, Hassan, Mahmoud, Mustafa, and a daughter, Aya. Mahmoud is married to Dalia Hegazy, the daughter of Mahmoud Hegazy, former army chief of Egypt.

Sisi is quite religious and often quotes verses from the Quran. Entissar wears the “hijab.”

He is also known as the “Quiet General” for his quiet demeanor. In his younger days, he was known as "General Sisi" due to his perceived calm and disciplined nature. He is known for appointing his family members to senior posts and powerful positions.