Mubarak's army-backed dictatorship, the continuation of a police state established by Gamal Abdel Nasser with the ousting of the monarchy in 1952, had faced down an Islamist insurgency that targeted him, his ministers and tourists in the 1990s. In 30 years of Mubarak rule, military tribunals with scant respect for civil law sentenced 90 Islamist militants to death, of whom 68 were executed. In nine months of Sisi's army-led government, courts have condemned 529 Islamists to death.

Egypt's army rulers froze assets belonging to three former aides of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, meeting a demand of reformers seeking tough action against figures of the past administration.