The Public Prosecution has said that it has new evidence regarding the Port Said football violence, which it is forwarding to the Port Said Criminal Court Tuesday, according to prosecution spokesperson Hassan Yassin.
However, a judicial source has said that the court will ultimately decide whether or not to accept the new evidence. The court is trying 73 suspects for murder in the aftermath of last year's violence in Port Said after a Premiere League match between Al-Ahly and Al-Masry, in which 72 people, almost all Ahly supporters, were killed
Meanwhile, thousands of Al-Masry fans besieged the Port Said stadium in protest of authorities' plans to transfer the defendants to Cairo for the verdict.
The move was announced in order to prevent possible rioting after the verdict was read.
“If there is insistence to transfer the defendants to Cairo, you should expect a big massacre and victims on both sides," said one member of Ultras Green Eagles, a group of hardcore Al-Masry fans. "We have written our wills and will fight for the rights of our comrades.”
However, Mohsen Rady, Port Said's security chief, stressed that the Interior Minister's assistant for public security told him the ministry remains adamantly against transferring the defendants to Cairo, as agreed with the Justice Ministry.
The head of Port Said’s Lawyers Syndicate, Safwat Abdel Halim, said 46 lawyers are awaiting security measures to be adopted for their safety against threats by Ahly fans.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
