Zamalek Chairman Mortada Mansour sentenced to one year in prison

Ahram Online , Saturday 21 Mar 2015

Mansour insulted an Ultras lawyer on a television show

Mortada
Zamalek Chairman Mortada Mansour (Photo: Reuters)

A Cairo misdemeanor court sentenced on Saturday Zamalek Club Chairman Mortada Mansour to one year in prison for insulting a lawyer on a television show.

Lawyer Mansour was convicted of insulting Lawyer Tarek El-Awady, who represents the Ultras White Knights, a hardcore Zamalek football club fan group.

Mansour, a controversial figure in Egyptian society since the 1990s, was also fined LE10,000.

The verdict can still be appealed. Meanwhile Mansour will have to pay a LE1,000 bail to remain outside prison.

In August 2014, Mortada Mansour was commenting on clashes between UWK and security forces on a satellite television channel when he launched a fierce attack on the group’s lawyer.

“You know a secret?” Mansour told the host “I have hit [Lawyer Al-Awady] twice with my shoe in the High court.”

The clashes occurred following an illegal protest by the UWK who were condemning the arrest of at least 13 of their colleagues on charges of attempting to assassinate Mansour in August 2014.

Mansour accused some members of the UWK of attempting to assassinate him, though he emerged unscathed from the alleged assassination attempt.

Conflicts have often arisen between the Zamalek chairman and the UWK.

Mansour has repeatedly called for the interior ministry to designate the UWK a ‘terrorist group’.

Mansour was one of several figures from the era of ousted president Hosni Mubarak who was accused of orchestrating the Battle of the Camel, when pro-Mubarak thugs rode camels and horses into Tahrir Square on 2 February at the height of the 2011 revolution and attacked protesters, killing 11 and injuring hundreds.

In 2012, Mansour along with 24 others were acquitted on charges of inciting the violence.

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