Egypt’s fact-finding parliamentary committee hears interior minister testimony Cairo – Akram Ali Egypt’s fact-finding parliamentary committee, which formed to investigate the post-match violence in Port Said, killing at least 71 people heard Tuesday in a closed session to the Egyptian interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim Youssef, while several MPs Monday voiced criticism at preliminary report, according to Middle East News Agency (MENA).
Ibrahim’s testimony came as part of the assembly’s process of accusing the minister of failing to do his job during the incident.
The hearing committee includes chairman of the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Mahmoud Khudairi, chairman of the Committee on Suggestions and Complaints Talat Marzouk, and MP Essam Sultan, from the Wasat party.
Parliament discussed on Monday the preliminary report prepared by the fact finding committee researching the incident, which held security forces, the stadium administration and the Egyptian Football Union responsible for the incident.
State-run Al-Ahram newspaper's website on Tuesday quoted parliamentary sources as saying that Ibrahim assured Parliament that security forces provided investigators into the incident with all the necessary information, and that whoever is proven to have been negligent in securing the match would be held to account.
Ibrahim told Parliament that a ministerial committee is reviewing the laws that regulate the work of the police, adding that his strategy upholds human rights in dealing with citizens, and that he would not tolerate any officer failing to do his job properly.
The committee’s preliminary report issued on Sunday 12 February held security forces, the administration of Port Said Stadium and the Egyptian Football Association responsible for the clashes. However, many MPs made it clear on Monday's open session that they were not satisfied by the committee's report. They said it failed to assign responsibility for the bloody incident, arguing that the investigations so far had been superficial and more testimonies needed to be heard.
Ashraf Thabet, head of Fact Finding Committee said that the responsibility fall on the security, as the security eased and enabled this massacre. They didn’t leverage their experience on similar clashes on this stadium by the same fans and the security checks were also loose on all scales.
For his part, Ashraf El Ashry, deputy chief editor of al-Aharm Newspaper said "The report didn’t meet the expectation of the people to determine names from the former regime involved in this massacre. The report came weak and the hopes remain for the public prosecutor investigation announcement."
According to the report, the Egyptian Football Association also fell short of performing its duty and did not apply international regulations set by FIFA regarding measures needed to secure the match.
Sports Journalist Hatem Maher said "A Premier League match between Port Said’s al-Masry and Cairo’s al-Ahly teams had a bloody ending when al-Masry fans swarmed the pitch and supporters of the visiting team were attacked."
He also said that police recovered are operating at about 60 percent of their capacity since the 25 January revolution, adding that there are criminals who devise schemes to weaken the police in order to make Egypt insecure.
The Port Said football disaster took place on 1 February following a league match between al-Ahly and al-Masry teams. Many Egyptians blame the security forces for either allowing or masterminding the violence in which over 71 fans were killed and hundreds injured. A further 15 people were killed in protests across Egypt triggered by the violence.