Last update 27 January, 2013 by Julio Muñoz
An Egyptian court sentenced to death this Saturday 21 accused of the tragedy at the Port Said football stadium in February 2012, en el que 74 people died and more than 1.000 were injured in a very violent confrontation between ultras, with a strong political component, which took place in the context of the transitional period led by the Egyptian Army after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
Fans of one of the teams took to the streets to celebrate the sentence handed down by the court, While others, have created riots around the Port Said prison. In such clashes, there have been at least thirty deaths, among them, two police officers in charge of prison security.
The verdict will be “referred to the Mufti” so that the great religious authority of the country ratifies the condemnation, as is usual in all cases that conclude with a death sentence. The others 52 defendants will hear their verdict next 9 March.
The trial involves a total of 73 people involved in the stadium incidents that took place on 1 February 2012 during the match between Al Masry and Al Ahly. Although initially it was suspected of a confrontation purely limited to both hobbies, Within hours of the incidents, several opposition groups accused the then main executive body of the country, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (CSFA), to instigate events.
Critics of the Army included the Muslim Brotherhood, the base of President Mohamed Morsi's party, who at the time blamed “an invisible hand”, in reference to the head of the CSFA, Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, of the clashes in the stadium.
Ten days after the tragedy, Investigators concluded that the events were planned in advance by ultras groups with the possible collaboration of supporters of the former regime of former President Hosni Mubarak., and were aggravated by the complicity of those responsible for the stadium and the negligent Egyptian police forces.
The results of the report of the parliamentary inquiry commission distributed responsibilities among the Egyptian Football Association, for ignoring the dangerousness of the event, those responsible for the stadium, and the security of Port Said, who acted in a way “negligent” and indicated that the security forces did not respond to the attacks by the ultras, given the low number of officers injured (a dozen among the hundreds of victims).
According to sources close to the writing of the document, the violence could have been planned in advance by a mix of ultras from one of the two teams in collaboration with “criminals”, although the document asks not only to blame the violent.
A) Yes, The report confirms the security videos that show how the Police remain impassive in the face of the clashes, and accuses those responsible for the stadium of closing the exits, increase the volume of the speakers to “cover up the massacre” and turn off the stadium lights, as reported by the newspaper Al Masry al Youm.
The investigation panel also recommended investigating the possible presence of supporters of the ousted President Hosni Mubarak as instigators of the tragedy., as well as the behavior of the ultras of both teams, many of whom played a prominent role in the riots that ended President Mubarak, as well as those that took place after the tragedy, and that they left more than 15 muertos.