CAIRO — A prominent Egyptian human rights lawyer stepped forward on Monday as a candidate in next year’s presidential election, emerging as the first open challenger to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s authoritarian rule after years of growing repression.

The lawyer, Khaled Ali, is not expected to pose a serious challenge to Mr. Sisi, whose crackdown on civil rights in Egypt has seen many of his opponents jailed, silenced or banished into exile.

But Mr. Ali’s candidacy could offer a focus for criticism of Mr. Sisi at a time when he is grappling with a sharp economic downturn and a jolting surge in violent attacks by Islamists linked to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

At a packed news conference in Cairo, Mr. Ali, who rose to prominence last year in rare protests over the government’s decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, said Egypt was in the grip of a deep crisis. His presidential bid was an attempt “to save Egypt from this dark destiny,” he said.