The Port Said Criminal Court ordered on Wednesday former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and high ranking police officers, including the Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, to testify in the Port Said prison clashes, state media reported. The court announced that the testimonies will take place on 21-22 February, and ordered every news channel that filmed and photographed the clashes to send copies to the court. There are 51 defendants from Port Said in the case, charged with the murder of two policemen and 40 others, as well as injuring 150 others on 26-28 January 2013. Clashes marred the governorate of Port Said for three days, starting on 26 January after the verdict on the Port Said Massacre of February 2012 was released, sentencing 21 to death for their responsibility in the death of 74 football fans in a football match in February 2012 between Al-Ahly and Al-Masry club. Angry protesters and families of prisoners gathered outside the Port Said prison where the prisoners sentenced to death were kept. They were accused of attempting to break into the prison. The army surrounded the prison with 10 armoured vehicles and deployed a tank at the entrance, and implemented a security plan for vital installations in Port Said The city then descended into violence, as protesters also broke into a police station east of the city and surrounded the Al-Arab police station. Following the incident, Morsi declared curfew in the Suez Canal governorates, which was defied by many citizens.
