The Ismailia Criminal Court postponed on Saturday the retrial of 73 defendants to 21 September over accusations of killing 72 al-Ahly Club fans in Port Said Stadium in February 2012 after a premier league match turned violent in the worst sports catastrophe in the Egypt's history.
The defendants include supporters of Port Said’s al-Masry Club and Port Said security officials.
In June, judges in the court in recused themselves from handling the trial of 11 tried in absentia over charges of killing the football fans.
The prosecution had earlier accused the defendants of premeditated murder and the killing of Ahly Club fans at Port Said Stadium in February 2012 in order to take revenge for previous conflicts, using edged weapons, explosives, stones and other tools to attack the victims.
Investigators say once the match between Ahly and Masry clubs in the premier league ended, the defendants attacked the victims with various weapons and even threw some of them from the grandstands.
In February 2014, a court ordered the retrial for 34 indicted defendants, accepted the appeal submitted by the prosecution against the acquittal of 28 defendants and ordered a retrial for 11 others in absentia.
The Port Said Criminal Court had earlier sentenced 21 defendants to death, five to life imprisonment, declared 28 innocent and sentenced the rest to from five to 15 years.
