Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the former head of the military council that ruled Egypt temporarily after its 2011 popular uprising, has died at the age of 85, Egypt's presidency said on Tuesday, declaring three days of national mourning.
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President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi led mourners at a military funeral ceremony for Tantawi at a mosque bearing his name in Cairo Tuesday afternoon.
Tantawi, a decorated war veteran who fought against Israel in the 1956 Suez Crisis, 1967 Six-Day War, and 1973 Yom Kippur War, served as defense minister for 21 years, for most of the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.
He led the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that ruled Egypt for a year-and-a-half after Mubarak was ousted from power in February 2011 during the Arab Spring.
Tantawi was too close to Mubarak to be personally popular with protesters who led the uprising in Tahrir Square, though the army's move to appease the demonstrators by deposing Mubarak won some support for the military as an institution.
But while Tantawi sought to project a more down-to-earth image after assuming power, being pictured chatting with passersby near Tahrir Square, many saw him as someone who sought to preserve the privileges of the military.
Tantawi was sacked as defense minister in August 2012, a few weeks after the Islamist Mohammed Morsi became president in what was described as the first free and fair presidential election in Egypt's modern history.
Tantawi only reappeared when then-military chief el-Sissi took power after leading the military overthrow of Morsi in 2013 amid mass protests.
On Tuesday el-Sissi said a major military base in east Cairo would be named after Tantawi.
In a statement, el-Sissi hailed Tantawi as "a statesman who took on the responsibility of running the country during a very difficult period."
El-Sissi also defended Tantawi's time in power, which witnessed a series of bloody incidents amid the political turmoil that followed the uprising.
"This man is innocent of any bloodshed... any of the things that took place during this period of conspiracy to bring down the state," el-Sissi said in televised remarks.
El-Sissi said Tantawi had fretted over how history would judge his record as the man who had handed power to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group in 2012.
"This issue hurt him very, very much because he... understood the damage this group's rule would cause Egypt," el-Sissi said.
After Morsi's overthrow, el-Sissi outlawed the Brotherhood and jailed much of its leadership.
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