Egypt: Exam question on footballer lands academic in trouble

Cairo: An Egyptian law professor has been suspended pending questioning after presuming in an examination question the death of a Moroccan footballer playing for Egypt’s popular club Zamalek.

Zamalek reacted with anger after social media reported that final-year students at a law school in a public university in the southern Egyptian city of Suhag were asked to answer a question about inheritance shares after assuming that famed Moroccan Achraf Bencharki, a Zamalek professional, has died due to COVID-19 and left behind a fabulous fortune.

An official in Zamalek said that the club has filed a legal complaint with Egypt’s chief prosecutor against the professor and that the Moroccan embassy in Cairo was taking unspecified procedures.

“Have we reached this level of rashness and lack of social responsibility from a university professor?” Hussein Al Samari, a member of the club’s executive committee, said.

“The issue has provoked discontent at the club, the player’s embassy and from fans,” he added.

The Suhag University said it has suspended the professor whose name was not given, and referred him to questioning. The university acknowledged that the exam question has violated the player’s private life. “The professor should have been more careful. Questions set in examinations are responsibility of the professors, who compose them,” the university said in a statement.

Egypt’s Higher Education Minister Khalid Abdul Ghafar condemned the controversial question as a “wrong individual act”. Abdul Ghafar contacted the 26-year-old footballer and informed him of measures taken against the professor, Egyptian media reported. “The ministry appreciates and fully respects all Egyptian sports clubs and their great fans. It is also proud of [foreign] professional players in their second homeland: Egypt,” he added.

There has been no comment from Bencharki, who has been playing with Zamalek since 2019.