Prosecution summons Port Said Massacre lawyer over stating false information

CAIRO - 6 March 2017: Egypt’s Attorney General summoned defense lawyer Anas Sayed, one of the lawyers in the Port Said stadium massacre case of 2012, for giving false remarks about the general prosecution suspending the death penalty for his defendant, Hassan al-Magdy.

The lawyer claimed on his Facebook page that the prosecution agreed to reconsider the case and to investigate new evidence that would discharges Magdy after a plea submitted by Hafez Abu Seada, a member of the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights.

The new evidence includes testimony from Al-Ahly team’s striker Emad Moteab. who claimed he saw Magdy after the match hiding barefoot in the locker room, so he gave him some slippers to wear.

The attorney general said in a statement that submitting a plea does not automatically grant suspension of the penalty.

The case dates back to 2012, when clashes between fans at a football match between Al-Ahly and Al-Masry sporting clubs at the Port Said Stadium led to the death of 72 Al-Ahly fans and the injury of many others after being beaten, stabbed or flung off the stadium’s upper tier.

The statement stressed that such false allegations would harm the public interest and the supreme interest of the state, which obliges all to respect the state judiciary as doing otherwise is considered a crime punishable by law.