Egypt upholds death verdicts for 11 people in soccer riot case
A court in Egypt has upheld the death sentences previously given to 11 men over their involvement in a 2012 football riot in the coastal city of Port Said that killed 74.
The court, based in the capital, Cairo, on Tuesday upheld the death sentences initially handed down to 11 soccer fans in April in connection with the February 2012 riot.
The verdicts came at the end of the retrial of 73 defendants in the riot case.
The upheaval in the Egyptian city prompted then President Mohamed Morsi to declare a state of emergency there.
The deadly violence broke out after a premier soccer league match between home team Al-Masry and Cairo’s Al-Ahly. It also triggered several days of violent protests in the capital, Cairo, where another 16 died in clashes with security forces.
Nine police officers were also tried in the case, but none were sentenced to death.
The court also sentenced Port Said’s then police chief Essam Samak, two Al-Masry club officials and another police officer to five years behind bars.
Twenty one defendants, including seven security officers and an Al-Masry official, won acquittal while the remaining 72 were handed down sentences of between one and 15 years in jail.
The Tuesday ruling can still be appealed.
In a similar soccer fan riot in February this year, several people were killed during clashes between police and fans ahead of a match between Zamalek and Enppi in Cairo.
MRA/KA/HJL
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