‘Favourite dictator:’ Egypt's Sisi slams ‘treacherous’ assassination attempt against Trump

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi condemned in the early hours of Sunday what he described as a "treacherous incident" against former US president and 2024 presidential nominee Donald Trump.

"I confirm Egypt’s condemnation of the act and wish President Trump a speedy recovery," Sisi posted on his official social media pages, wishing that the remaining US electoral process will proceed "peacefully in a healthy atmosphere, devoid of any signs of terrorism, violence and hatred."

Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania after a series of gunshots were fired at a campaign rally late on Saturday. The Trump campaign later said he was "doing well" and appeared to have suffered no major injury besides a wound on his upper right ear.

Despite Egypt’s poor human rights record under Sisi, Trump has frequently voiced support for the president throughout his time in power.

"Sisi seems to have seized the right opportunity and played it safe, implicitly voicing support for Trump in case he wins the vote," a high-profile political analyst told The New Arab.

"By all means, whether under Trump or [the current president Joe] Biden, the US government seems to have dropped its usual rhetoric of human rights advocacy and favoured interests instead, especially following the brutal war of its ally in the region, Israel, on the Palestinian Gaza Strip bordering Egypt," added the analyst, on condition of anonymity, for security reasons.

In 2019, Trump sparked controversy after yelling out: "Where's my favourite dictator" in reference to Sisi during the G7 summit held in France as he waited for him to arrive at a meeting.

At that time, Trump applauded Sisi and his leadership for being "a very tough man." "But he's also a good man, and he’s done a fantastic job in Egypt. Not easy," Trump said on the side lines of the international event.

However, the former president had allegedly satirised his Egyptian counterpart a year earlier, making news headlines back then, over referring to him as "a "f****** killer," Bob Woodward claimed in his tell-all biography on the US president, Fear: Trump in the White House.

Woodward claimed that Trump mocked Sisi after a telephone conversation during which he told his lawyer, John Dowd, that the former Egyptian military chief "made him sweat", following a phone conversation.

"Dowd, remember who I'm talking to," Trump said, according to the book. "The guy's a f***ing killer. This guy's a f***ing killer! I'm getting it done. He'll make you sweat on the phone," Woodward alleged Trump told Dowd. 

Human rights groups have long criticised Sisi for clamping down on any form of dissent or opposition in the country.

According to Amnesty International, since Sisi came into power, thousands of actual or perceived government critics remained arbitrarily detained or are unjustly prosecuted.

A report by the organisation states enforced disappearances and torture and other ill-treatment remains rampant in the country, while death sentences are handed down after grossly unfair trials.

"President al-Sisi’s government has not eased its nationwide repression that caused one of Egypt’s worst human rights crises in many decades," a report by Human Rights Watch states.

In 2020, a pro-Sisi Egyptian singer named Wissam Magdy turned the 1999 song "Ekhtarnah" ("We Chose Him") – performed for ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak long year earlier - into a song campaigning for Donald Trump's victory in presidential elections. in a move, prompting satire in Egypt.