A look at some of the top figures emerging in Egypt after the military removed President Mohammed Morsi:

—Interim President Adly Mansour, 67, a judge:

Mansour emerged from near-obscurity when he became head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, two days before Egypt’s military chief announced last Wednesday that Morsi had been deposed and was to be replaced by the chief justice.

Mansour’s career in the judiciary took a prominent turn in 1984, when he became a judge on the state council and then its vice president. In 1992, he was appointed vice president to the Supreme Constitutional Court. He became chief justice following his predecessor’s retirement on June 30.

He was sworn in as Egypt’s interim president on Thursday.

—Army chief and Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, 58:

El-Sissi stepped onto the center stage of Egyptian politics when the military on July 1 gave Morsi a 48-hour ultimatum to resolve his differences with the opposition after millions took to the streets on June 30 to demand the Islamist leader leave power. On Wednesday, el-Sissi announced Morsi’s removal.

A graduate of the Egyptian military academy and the U.S. Army War College, el-Sissi was appointed commander in chief of the Egyptian armed forces in August 2012, replacing Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who was ordered into retirement by Morsi.

—Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, 76, a prominent economist:

Egypt’s military-backed interim president named el-Beblawi as prime minister on Tuesday. He previously served as finance minister and held the title of deputy prime minister in one of the first cabinets formed after the 2011 uprising forced Hosni Mubarak from power and the military stepped in to rule. He resigned in protest three months later after 26 demonstrators, mostly Christians, were killed by troops and security forces in a crackdown on their march.

He is one of the founders of the Egyptian Social Democratic party, one of several secular parties in the liberal grouping National Salvation Front.

—Interim Vice President Mohammed ElBaradei, 71, former director of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency:

Originally pegged to be interim prime minister, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was opposed by religious conservatives. Mansour named ElBaradei as vice president on Tuesday.

With a long career on the international scene, ElBaradei served as an Egyptian diplomat to the United Nations and later as an aide to Egypt’s foreign minister. He was the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency for nearly 12 years. He and the IAEA shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

After popular protests toppled Mubarak in February 2011, ElBaradei emerged as a democracy advocate and later as an opposition leader in the National Salvation Front. After a series of widely criticized moves by Morsi, ElBaradei said members of the dominant Muslim Brotherhood lived “in a delusion” for thinking they could manage the country on their own.

(AP)