Egyptian parliament hears interior minister testimony

Egypt’s fact-finding parliamentary committee hears interior minister testimony Cairo – Akram Ali Egypt’s fact-finding parliamentary committee, formed to investigate the post-match violence in Port Said that leaft at least 75 dead heard Tuesday in a closed session Egyptian interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim Youssef, while several MPs Monday voiced criticism at preliminary report, according to Middle East News Agency (MENA).
Ibrahim’s testimony came as part of the assembly’s process of accusing the minister of failing to do his job and mitigate the situation during the clashes.
The hearing committee includes chairman of the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Mahmoud Khudairi, chairman of the Committee on Suggestions and Complaints Talat Marzouk, and MP Essam Sultan from the Wasat party.
Parliament discussed on Monday the preliminary report prepared by the committee, which held security forces, the stadium administration and the Egyptian Football Asssociation responsible for the incident.
However, many MPs made it clear on Monday's open session that they were not satisfied by the committee's report. They said it failed to assign responsibility for the bloody incident, arguing that the investigations so far had been superficial and more testimonies needed to be heard.
State-run Al-Ahram newspaper's website on Tuesday quoted parliamentary sources as saying that Ibrahim assured Parliament that security forces provided investigators into the incident with all the necessary information, and that whoever is proven to have been negligent in securing the match would be held to account.
Ibrahim told Parliament that a ministerial committee was reviewing the laws that regulated the work of the police, adding that his strategy upholds human rights in dealing with citizens, and that he would not tolerate any officer failing to do his job properly.
Ashraf Thabet, head of the fact-finding committee said that responsibility fell on security. "They didn’t learn from their experience in similar clashes on this stadium by the same fans while security checks were also lax," said Thabet.
For his part, Ashraf El Ashry,  deputy chief editor of Ahram said: "The report didn’t meet the expectation of the people to determine names from the former regime involved in this massacre. The report was weak and hopes remain for the public prosecutor's impending announcement."
According to the report, the Egyptian Football Association also fell short of performing its duty and did not apply international regulations set by FIFA regarding measures needed to secure the match.
Sports journalist Hatem Maher said: "Police are operating at about 60 per cent of their capacity since the January 25 revolution...there are criminals who devise schemes to weaken the police in order to make Egypt insecure."
A Premier League match between Port Said’s Al-Masry and Cairo’s al-Ahly teams had a bloody ending when Al-Masry fans swarmed the pitch and supporters of the visiting team were attacked. Many Egyptians blame the security forces for either allowing or masterminding the violence in which over 74 fans were killed and hundreds injured. A further 15 people were killed in protests across Egypt triggered by the violence.