The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 15 members from the Ultras White Knights (UWK) to one year in prison on Monday following charges levelled against the members accusing them of storming into the Al-Zamalek club headquarters and attempting to assassinate the club’s president in August 2014.
The club’s president, Mortada Mansour, claimed that the “assassination attempt” occurred inside the club’s headquarters at dawn, as he was leaving the building. Two of the people accompanying him were purportedly shot, one in the back of the head, while the other sustained several bullet wounds.
Significant tension has characterised the relationship between the Ultras White Knights and Mansour.
Fans have been banned from the majority of domestic football matches since the 2012 Port Said Stadium events. During a game between Port Said’s Al-Masry SC and Cairo’s Al-Ahly, 74 of the visiting team’s fans were attacked and killed by armed men.
The case sparked a great deal of controversy, due to allegations that security forces were complicit in the killings, as the gates of the stadium were reportedly closed from outside and security forces stood by without intervening to prevent the violence.
The affiliation of the armed attackers remains unclear.
The ban preventing fans from entering matches was reapplied after 20 Al-Zamalek fans were killed in February 2015, during a stampede, which fans similarly blamed on security forces and the club chairman.
