An Egyptian court in Port Said on Tuesday passed death sentences on 11 persons over deadly football riots in 2012.
The 11 persons had been charged before the Criminal Court with the violence that caused the death of dozens of football fans in a case, publicly known as the `Port Said Stadium massacre.’
Investigations revealed that the defendants attacked the victims immediately after the match, using knives and stones.
Further investigations also showed that some of the victims were thrown from the stands, packed into a small exit path, while shooting fireworks at them with deadly intent.
The court’s verdict could still be appealed at the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest legal court, whose rulings are final.
On April 19, the Port Said Criminal Court decided to refer the papers of the 11 defendants implicated in the case to the Grand Mufti, the country’s interpreter of religious laws, for his religious opinion on the death sentences.
The court had in 2013, re-affirmed death sentences for 21 of them, and sentenced five defendants to life imprisonment.
It also acquitted 28 defendants, including seven senior security officials.
However, the Court of Cassation ordered a retrial in February 2014, after accepting appeals by both the prosecution and defendants.
Some 72 soccer fans were killed and 254 others injured in Egypt’s worst ever violent soccer riots after the match between local Al Ahly and Port Said-based Al Masry clubs in February 2012.
As many as 73 people, including nine security officials, were arrested right after the incident.
(Xinhua/NAN)