(DNE File Photo)
Zamalek SC chairman Mortada Mansour dropped the case against club fans standing trial on charges of storming the club’s headquarters, leading to reconciliation between him and defendants.
Thirteen members of the hardcore fan group Ultras White Knights (UWK) were charged with demonstrating, attempting to storm the club headquarters, causing damage to one of the headquarters buildings, and possessing weapons among other charges, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported.
In August 2014, a group of Zamalek fans, among them UWK members, gathered outside the club’s headquarters denouncing the then-club president Mamdouh Abbas’s statements on banning fans from attending the football team’s trainings.
Mansour dropped the case as the club’s current president, and reconciled with the defendants.
He has been involved in an ongoing feud with the hardcore fan group since he took the club’s chairmanship, accusing them of attempting to assassinate him, and also demanding that they be listed by authorities as a terrorist group.
Mansour also accused the group, in another case, of throwing acid on him.
On 16 May, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters banned ultras football fan groups and ordered that they be dissolved.
The UWK often refer to Mansour as the “dog of the system”, for his alleged connections to the Egyptian regime. Mansour was a defendant in the “Battle of the Camel”, which occurred during the 25 January Revolution, but was acquitted.
UWK members are also standing trial on charges of cooperating with the Muslim Brotherhood to “spread chaos” during the Air Defence Stadium incident, which left at least 20 fans dead.
