This is how Mortada Mansour, the president of Zamalek Club, reacted when the club's media members refused to attend an urgent meeting he had called to explain his growing feud with the press: he cancelled their membership. Al-Ahram Weekly's Abeer Anwar, a member of Zamalek Club for almost 30 years, was astonished when she received the letter. “When he first announced it, we all thought it was a joke and that he couldn't do it because it is illegal,” said Anwar. “But it turned out it was true, though it is still illegal. Surprisingly, it wasn't a warning letter. It was a letter of notification that my membership is cancelled, just like that, no reasons stated.” Anwar is a former member of the Egyptian karate national team and was trained as a youngster in Zamalek. “I played for Zamalek since I was young and was crowned champion many times in the name of Zamalek, so how come I am cancelled after all the medals I won for Zamalek?” she asked. Anwar said that she would wait for the response of the Press Syndicate and the Egyptian Sports Press Association (ESPA) before taking action. ESPA Treasurer Mohamed Al-Kosi explained that the whole issue is in the hands of the legal departments of both the Press Syndicate and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which has formed a legal committee to study the matter. “It seems that after the cases we filed last month and after he was called in for an investigation, after which it became a court case, he [Mansour] became angry and wanted revenge from the media, especially the members of his club.” said Al-Kosi. “But he doesn't own the club. This is a fact. Zamalek Club is not a private club. It is affiliated to the government, to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which has a say. That is why we have issued a statement asking the minister, Khaled Abdel-Aziz, to intervene, and he did. So we are waiting. “Surprisingly, out of all people, he, a lawyer who is supposed to know the law better than anyone, commits such an illegality? He cannot call for an emergency meeting that includes just a small group of people — just the media? “The whole club must be notified. It is called an urgent general assembly meeting, 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 to cancel the membership of some members and if it is approved, then it passes. He can't take such a decision by himself. “An urgent meeting is also held for an important decisive issue regarding the club, not a personal dispute between the club president and the media. We have said before that media would continue reporting on all the activities of the club but not the president and this is the current case and situation,” Al-Kosi told the Weekly. Despite no journalists cooperating with him in the press, radio or TV, Mansour still managed to find some airtime on a private, non-Egyptian TV channel, MBC Masr. “He used them, or to be precise, blackmailed them,” Al-Kosi said. “First of all, this channel is not a member of the Media Industry Chamber, which includes most private TV channels and who have shown support for our case against Mansour since the beginning. “MBC Masr tried to do the same but couldn't because it appears that the sponsor of the main sports program, “Messa' Al-Anwar”, is the same sponsor of Zamalek Club who paid Zamalek millions of pounds to claim the marketing rights of the club. “So, Mansour threatened the sponsor company: if they didn't give him airtime to speak on their channel, which is widely watched, he would break their contract with the club. The sponsors pressed the channel to allow Mortada the chance to appear. He did and said what he said, but his is still in a difficult situation,” Al-Kosi said. Mohamed Shabana, the head of ESPA, issued a toughly worded statement calling on the Ministry of Youth and Sports to intercede and urged MBC Masr to support the media in their dispute with Mansour since, in the end, it bears the name of Egypt. “We are glad the minister reacted at least by sending the issue to a legal committee. We knew from the beginning that it was illegal. As long as the media members of Zamalek have their membership cards and regularly pay their annual subscriptions, then they are safe,” said Shabana. “As for the channel, we have called them to show support. We know they are under pressure but they have to stand up against blackmail.” The dispute between the 62-year-old Mansour and journalists started in fact on “Messa' Al-Anwar” on MBC Masr, during the 9 November broadcast. Mansour, in a phone-in to the host, criticised 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. He has launched numerous scathing attacks against them, filing several lawsuits in the process. During the show, broadcast live, Mansour insulted Gaber, reporter Islam Sadek and Mohamed Al-Sharkawi, head of the sports section of Al-Masri Al-Youm. Al-Sharkawi, who was taking part by phone as well, abruptly hung up. On 15 November about 1,500 journalists, led by Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian Press Syndicate, marched from the Press Syndicate to the nearby Supreme Judiciary Court, to lodge a complaint with the prosecutor-general against Mansour, himself a law counsellor. But when they arrived at the court, the journalists were met by a counter-protest march staged by Mansour's supporters and led by his son Ahmed, a board member of Zamalek. Mansour's supporters tried to prevent the journalists from entering the courthouse to submit their complaints. 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, without mention of his name. 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 that breached the decision would risk its membership being cancelled. Showing solidarity, the Egyptian Press Syndicate supported the ESPA and joined it in its official complaints to the courts. Furthermore, Essam Al-Amir, chairman of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), 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. According to Al-Kosi, journalists who breach the ban will be questioned by the ESPA board. In reply, Mansour described the ESPA statement as insulting and held a press conference that was attended by only four journalists and one TV channel. At the conference he claimed that Al-Masri 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. With the media doors shut, Mansour tried to draw on 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 was threatening to cancel the membership of journalists who are members of Zamalek. Nobody believed it then but there are no doubts any more. Journalists believe Mansour's only way out now is to pay a visit to the headquarters of the Press Syndicate and apologise to the journalists in person. But it seems Mansour remains stubborn and refuses to give up. The decision to cancel the membership of journalists in Zamalek was made by Mansour alone, without a prior board meeting of the club or a vote. In fact, no board member in Zamalek has been quoted as saying anything about the issue, apparently for fear of retribution from Mansour. 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 his alleged role in the Battle of the Camels incident on 2 February, during the nationwide uprising of 2011, in which 11 people were killed.
