Zamalek Club President Mortada Mansour is expected to be summoned by the office of the South Giza Prosecution Office any time now to be questioned about complaints presented by both the Egyptian Sports Press Association (ESPA) and the Press Syndicate. “We submitted six complaints to the prosecutor-general against the Zamalek Club president for libel and slander,” said ESPA treasurer Mohamed Al-Kosi. “We are putting together all incidents in which he slandered and defamed journalists. Our complaints are supported by video and audio evidence. We brought it all to the prosecutor-general because we can no longer tolerate this,” added Al-Kosi. The dispute between the 62-year-old Mansour and journalists started during a sports TV show, Messa' Al-Anwar on the MBC Masr station. On the show aired Sunday 9 November, Mansour, in a phone-in to the host, was critical of comments made by star Zamalek defender Omar Gaber who in an interview published in the widely circulated daily Al-Masry Al-Youm praised the club's Ultras fans. Mansour is at odds with the club's supporters, responsible for several violent incidents, and has launched numerous scathing attacks against them, filing several lawsuits in the process. In the show, broadcast live, Mansour insulted Gaber, reporter Islam Sadek and Mohamed Al-Sharkawi, the head of the sports section of Al-Masry Al-Youm. Al-Sharkawi, who was speaking in a phone-in as well, abruptly hung up. The following day, ESPA issued an official statement calling for a boycott of Mansour. The statement urged that any news or pictures of Mansour should not be published and that he would only be addressed as the Zamalek Club president. ESPA clarified that the ban did not include covering the activities of the club itself. Egypt's newspapers were notified of the ban. The statement warned that any journalist or newspaper which breached the decision would risk their membership being cancelled. Showing solidarity, the Press Syndicate supported the ESPA and joined it in its official complaints to the courts. Furthermore, the Chairman of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), Essam Al-Amir and Mohamed Al-Amin, chairman of the Private Satellite Channels Chamber, barred Mansour's appearance on all radio and TV shows, even if his appearance was not related to sports. On Saturday 15 November, about 1,500 journalists, led by Chairman of the Press Syndicate Diaa Rashwan, marched from the Press Syndicate to the nearby Supreme Judiciary Court, to lodge a complaint to the prosecutor-general against Mansour, himself a law counselor. But when they arrived at the court, the journalists were met by a counter protest march staged by Mansour's supporters, led by his son Ahmed, a board member of Zamalek. Mansour's supporters sought to prevent the journalists from entering the courthouse to submit their complaints. In reply, Mansour described the ESPA statement as insulting and called for a press conference which was attended by only four journalists and one TV channel. In the press conference he claimed that Al-Masry Al-Youm opposed him because he was in dispute with its Board Chairman businessman Salah Diab. The newspaper rejected Mansour's claims, saying that Diab never interferes in its editorial policy. According to Al-Kosi, journalists who breach the ban will be questioned by the ESPA board. With the media doors shut, Mansour sought refuge with journalists who are Zamalek Club members. He called for an emergency meeting, however, ESPA and the Press Syndicate warned journalists against attending or risk being investigated. Rumours had it that Mansour threatened to cancel the membership of journalists who are members of Zamalek. “He can't do that,” Al-Kosi said. “It needs the approval of the club's general assembly which should meet in an emergency session and be notified at least 45 days ahead of the meeting, according to the Ministry of Sports. The club president then makes a request and if it is approved, then it passes. He can't take such a decision by himself. “He's trapped and no journalist will cooperate with him,” Al-Kosi said. “His only way out is to pay a visit to the headquarters of the Press Syndicate and apologise to the journalists. “And by the way, this has happened before with other officials, including former minister of interior Zaki Badr, the most powerful man in the government then, who went to the homes of journalists and apologised for insulting them.” “Though ESPA consists of about 450 sports journalists, more than 1,000 journalists from all sectors joined forces with us in the march,” according to Ihab Al-Fouli, ESPA vice president, who is also deputy of the sports section at Al-Masry Al-Youm. “Their support has bolstered our case against Mansour and we thank all our colleagues. This is the first time such action is taken against Mansour who continues to swear and threaten everyone around him.” Al-Fouli said the association will closely monitor the situation with the Public Prosecution Office. “So far, there is no news since ESPA submitted the complaints to the public prosecution only on Saturday. We'll wait and see.” Though he was elected more than once as Zamalek Club president, Mansour is an extremely controversial and polarising figure in the country, jailed more than once for verbal and at times physical abuse of government officials. He was detained then released for an alleged role in the Battle of the Camels incident on 2 February during the nationwide uprising of 2011 in which 11 people were killed that day.
