Cairo: A ruling in a retrial, related to Egypt’s worst football tragedy that occurred more than three years ago, was adjourned until June 9, a court announced on Saturday.
The Cairo Criminal Court postponed delivering the verdict on Saturday for all the 73 defendants, more than a month after handing down a preliminary death sentence to 11 of them.
Legal sources said the court delayed the final ruling after three fugitive defendants had turned themselves in. Seven others are still on the run, they added.
On April 19, the court said it was referring the preliminary death sentences to the country’s chief Islamic authority, the Grand Mufti, to approve or reject them — a routine legal procedure in capital punishment cases in Egypt.
At the time, the court said it would issue the final rulings on the 11 and the 62 co-defendants on May 30.
Saturday’s brief session was held amid tight security at a makeshift courtroom in the Police Academy on the outskirts of Cairo.
Families of the fans killed in the 2011 mayhem gathered outside the court building, carrying their pictures and calling for justice.
The high-profile case is related to the death of 74 people in a riot at a stadium in the coastal city of Port Saeed in February 2012 following a match between the home team Al Masry and Egypt’s top squad Al Ahly.
The incident prompted Egyptian authorities to scrap the country’s Premier League of that season.
In March 2013, a court sentenced to death 21 of the defendants, sparking a massive riot in Port Saeed. The other defendants were given varying jail sentences.
Last year, Egypt’s top appeals court ordered a retrial for all the defendants. The retrial began last August.
Earlier this year, 20 people died in a stampede outside an army stadium near Cairo after police fired tear gas reportedly to prevent diehard fans from entering without tickets to attend a Premier League match.
The incident prompted a brief suspension of the competition that restarted in April without fans.
