Egyptian president's mother passes away

Soaad Mohamed, the mother of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, passed away on Monday.

The funeral is expected to take place following noon prayers at the Mushir al-Tantawi mosque in Cairo.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb cut a visit to Luxor short, which Egyptian daily Youm7 attributed to an “emergency situation”.

Former prime minister Mustafa Bakri then confirmed the news of Soaad’s death on his Twitter account.

“God rest the soul of President Sisi’s mother and may the family find patience and solace,” Bakri tweeted.

Soaad's cause of death was due to health problems that she had been suffering from for some time.

Soaad was the first wife of Sisi’s father, Saeed, and had two children.

The family lived in Gamaleya, a mixed quarter near the al-Azhar mosque where Muslims, Jews and Christians resided. 

During his presidency election campaign, Sisi spoke lovingly of his mother.

“Without exaggeration, I am very lucky to be blessed with a woman like my mother,” he said. “She is very wise, and has strong faith in God. She taught me so much, and I still learn from her to this day.”

“She never mistreated anyone ever when we were living in the [Gamaleya] quarter,” he added. “She always gave people the benefit of the doubt.”