Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi[a] (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014.

The army then installed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mansour as the interim head of state in his place until a new president could be elected, and ordered the arrest of many members of the Muslim Brotherhood on charges of "inciting violence and disturbing general security and peace.

"[51] Sisi announced on television that the president had "failed to meet the demands of the Egyptian people" and declared that the constitution would be temporarily suspended, which was met by acceptance from anti-Morsi protesters and condemnation from pro-Morsi supporters in Rabaa al-Adawiya.

[52] While supporters interpreted this to mean that Sisi felt the need of the people to prove to the world that it was not a coup but the popular will, the statement was seen by opponents as contradicting the military's pledges to hand over power to civilians after removing Morsi and as indicating an imminent crackdown against Islamists.

[66] In a file published by the State Information Services, the government explained the raids by stating that "police went on to use force dispersing the sit-in on 14 August 2013 with the least possible damage, causing hundreds of civilians and police to fall as victims, while Muslim Brotherhood supporters imposed a blockade for 46 days against the people in al-Nahda and Rabaa al-Adawiya squares under the name of sit-in where tens of protesters took to the street daily hindered the lives of the Egyptians, causing unrest and the death or injury of many victims as well as damage to public and private properties".

[69] After Sisi had removed Morsi from office and disbanded the Egyptian Senate, in September 2013 interim president Adly Mansour temporarily decreed that ministers could award contracts without a request for tender.

In November 2013, the interim government temporarily banned protests in an attempt to combat the growing pro-Brotherhood unrest; the police arrested thousands of Egyptians using the new law.

[74] Cupcakes, chocolate and necklaces bearing the "CC" initials were created, restaurants in Egypt named sandwiches after him, blogs shared his pictures, and columns, op-eds, television shows and interviews discussed the "new idol of the Nile valley" in the Egyptian mainstream media.

[79] The accompanying article noted that "Sisi's success reflected the genuine popularity of a man who led what was essentially a military coup in July against the democratically elected government of then President Mohammed Morsi".

Freedom House claims that meaningful political opposition is virtually nonexistent in the country, and that security forces engage in human rights abuses with impunity.

He was photographed during a hospital visit to a woman receiving treatment after an assault during celebrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square, ordering the army, the police, and the media to counter the issue.

[106] Sisi has called for the reform and modernisation of Islam;[107] to that end, he has taken measures within Egypt such as regulating mosque sermons and changing school textbooks (including the removal of some content on Saladin and Uqba ibn Nafi inciting or glorifying hatred and violence).

[119] Sisi, who is reportedly facing a severe economic ordeal in Egypt, has decided to raise fuel prices by 78 percent as an introduction to cut the subsidies on basic food stuffs and energy, which use nearly a quarter of the state budget.

[120] Slashing subsidies was recommended by international financial institutions, but no prior Egyptian leader had managed to broach the issue, fearing unrest in a country where nearly 30 percent of the population lives in poverty and rely on government aid.

[122] President Sisi defended the decision to raise fuel prices, saying it was "bitter medicine" that should have been taken before and was "50 years late" but was not taken, as governments feared a backlash like the Bread Riots of 1977.

[123] Sisi, who had previously accepted only half of his own pay, called on Egyptians to make sacrifices, vowing to repair an economy growing at the slowest pace in two decades.

[131] Considered its worst in decades, Egypt's energy crisis that helped inflame the protests against former president Mohamed Morsi[132] continued to grow in Sisi's first months in office, challenging the new government.

[156] Shortly before Sisi arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to participate in the 23rd ordinary session of the African Union summit where he gave his speech blaming the AU for freezing Egypt's membership a year before.

Egypt also criticised the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip as "oppressive policies of mass punishment rejecting 'the irresponsible Israeli escalation' in the occupied Palestinian territory, which comes in the form of 'excessive' and unnecessary use of military force leading to the death of innocent civilians".

President Sisi also ordered the Egyptian Armed Forces to transport 500 tons of aid, consisting of food and medical supplies, to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

[173] Sisi also stipulated that the Palestinian Authority would take power in the Gaza Strip in future peace plans and conditioned an easing of transit restrictions at the Rafah checkpoint on the presence of a force from the Palestinian Authority's Presidential Guard being stationed on the Gaza side of the crossing[174] as the Sisi administration considers Hamas an enemy, blaming them for the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers in 2012 and over the alleged involvement in the prisons' storming in the wake of Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

[175] In January 2020, in response to the Trump peace plan, the Sisi government issued a statement stating that it "recogniz[ed] the importance of considering the U.S. administration's initiative", that it "call[ed] on the two relevant parties to undertake a careful and thorough consideration of the U.S. vision to achieve peace" and supporting the "restor[ation] to the Palestinian people [of] their full legitimate rights through the establishment of a sovereign independent state in the Palestinian occupied territories in accordance with international legitimacy and resolutions".

Sisi welcomed the Trump-brokered Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement, saying he was gladdened by the suspension of Israel's plans to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

[195] In 2014, an intense campaign started by Egypt and Saudi Arabia against Turkey made it lose its predicted easy victory of membership in the United Nations Security Council.

The Supreme Constitutional Court froze that ruling and allowed Sisi to ratify the deal with Saudi Arabia, making these two islands included in Mohammed Bin Salman's NEOM megacity.

Al-Sharaa, described as an Islamist and former affiliate of Al-Qaeda, has been seeking support from Arab and Western leaders since leading a rebel offensive that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

[220] Despite evidence of tensions, a 2014 news story, BBC reported: "The US has revealed it has released $575m in military aid to Egypt that had been frozen since the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi last year.

[224] The absence of Egypt in President Trump's travel ban towards seven Muslim countries was noted in Washington, although the Congress has voiced human rights concerns over the handling of dissidents.

[230] The Biden administration pressed Sisi to improve Egypt's human rights record—which is generally perceived to be poor—but nonetheless approved in February 2021 a $197 million sale of Rolling Airframe Missiles for the Egyptian Navy's coastal defenses, citing the country's role in regional security as a major non-NATO ally.

[231] In September 2019, building contractor Mohamed Ali, in exile in Spain, published videos online that directly criticised Sisi, claiming corruption and ineffectiveness.