(AFP File Photo)
The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters banned Saturday ultras football fan groups and ordered that they should be dissolved.
The lawyer behind the lawsuit, Ashraf Farahat, who also demands the banning of the 6 April Youth Movement, told Daily News Egypt that the ultras will now be considered a “terrorist organisation”.
“They will not be able to act in the name of those groups during football matches, nor will they have any voice in face of the regime, and any person acting in their name should be arrested,” Farahat stated.
The initial lawsuit filed by Zamalek SC chairman Mortada Mansour called for banning the activities of ultras groups and listing them as terrorist groups. The lawsuit also accused the groups of storming the Egyptian Football Association, the headquarters of Al-Ahly football club, and the state security building, as well as plotting to assassinate former sports minster Al-Amry Farouk.
The case has been pending since September 2014, when tensions between the hardcore fan group Ultras White Knights (UWK) and Mansour increased, and after they participated in several protests.
The same court had decided it did not have jurisdiction over the case on 27 April, but the decision was appealed.
According to Law 8/2015 regarding “terrorist entities”, cases must be looked into before criminal courts. Complaints regarding an alleged terrorist entity must come from the Prosecutor General’s office to one of the specified courts, and not a lawsuit filed by an independent lawyer to court, such as in the ultras case.
The law identified “terrorist bodies” as those that aim at disrupting and endangering public safety and national security, and a list of similar broad definitions.
Members of the group have become a target for police authorities and state security, with arrests, detention and interrogations regarding “terrorist charges.”
Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat claimed that Muslim Brotherhood members provided UWK members with money and explosive materials to commit violence and riots during the Air Defence Stadium clashes last February.
