Cartoon love for General Sisi

Splashed across the front page of privately-owned Sawt al-Umma newspaper is the face of Defense Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over 35 different bodies, representing different elements of Egypt.

At the helm of the 35 Sisi’s, is the general himself in his military uniform. Behind him stands Doctor Sisi, laborer Sisi, businessman Sisi, a Sisi sporting a casual T-shirt among others, with a tag line reading, “All of Egypt is Sisi.”

The picture was a topic of much sarcasm on social networking websites.

Sawt al-Umma is a privately-owned weekly newspaper, run by Abdel Halim Qandeel, a staunch critic of the Mubarak regime.

This picture overtly expressing love for the general isn’t unique to local newspapers. Cartoonists like Mostafa Hussein expressed the people’s love for Sisi in state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper in a cartoon titled “The Muslim Brotherhood’s initiative: Step down Sisi,” showing a bearded man looking up at a man twice his size, who has a picture of Sisi on his chest.

The abnormally tall man sarcastically looks down on the bearded man and asks him “How can he step down, brother?”

Another cartoon drawn by Hussein shows Sisi standing in front of the mirror but his reflection is none other than former President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The cartoon is titled “Bless the hands,” the title of an repeatedly played song that was produced after the removal of Mohamed Morsi from office.