Military general who ruled Egypt after Mubarak ouster dies

Hussein Tantawi ran Egypt for 17 months, starting from February 2011, when Mubarak stepped down, until the election of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in June 2012.

Hussein Tantawi, the Egyptian General who took charge of the country when longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down amid the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, died on Tuesday, Egypt’s presidency said. He was 85.

Field Marshal Tantawi, Mubarak’s Defense Minister for some 20 years, chaired the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that took power after Mubarak’s ouster. He was known to be unquestioningly loyal to the former President, and oversaw a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that continued under Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt’s current President. His government has since rolled back many of the freedoms won in 2011.

Born in October 1935, Tantawi, who suffered from age-related health problems in recent months, died in a hospital in Cairo, according to a person close to his family, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.