A Cairo special terrorism court postponed on Monday the trial of former Ultras White Knights leader Sayed Fahim, known as Sayed Moshagheb, and five others to September 22. The session was the first in the case against Moshagheb and his friends, who are facing charges of unlawful assembly and possession of fireworks over a gathering they held to celebrate his release after nearly 11 years in detention. The defense team submitted several procedural requests before the court, including hearing witnesses and presenting evidence, defense lawyer Osama al-Gohary told Mada Masr. Moshagheb was released on April 16 after spending over a decade detained in connection with the 2015 Air Defense Stadium case and a subsequent case with the State Security Prosecution. Hours after his release, following a spontaneous gathering organized by friends outside his home in Bulaq al-Dakrour, he and five others were rearrested. The Interior Ministry had described the celebration of Moshagheb’s release as a “riot,” where fireworks were launched and traffic was disrupted in the Giza neighborhood, “causing public alarm.” The lawyer challenged official police and investigation reports which claimed the six were “caught in the act” on the street shortly after Moshagheb arrived in his neighborhood, saying that he was taken from inside his house after the gathering that was held for him. In a Friday statement, the Ultras White Knights described Moshagheb’s April arrest as a “moment of hope turned into shock,” stating that there had been no violence or misconduct that justified escalation on behalf of authorities. Moshagheb was a founding member of the Ultras White Knights, the football fan group of Egypt’s Zamalek Club that became politically engaged in the years after the 2011 uprising. He has a long history with the state crackdown that followed the military’s ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, as authorities targeted young activists, students and groups, including football ultras. Now 36, he was arrested in 2015 in the wake of the Air Defense Stadium case, where security forces fired tear gas at fans outside the over-crowded stadium, causing a stampede that killed 20 people. In 2017, he received a seven-year sentence for possession of explosives, vandalism of public facilities and assault against security forces. New charges against Moshagheb were brought against him by the State Security Prosecution in 2021, including joining an illegal group and spreading false news, keeping him behind bars, according five human rights organizations, who condemned in a joint statement authorities’ “continued policy of not releasing political detainees after the end of their prison term or after dropping charges against them.” His continued imprisonment is part of what has become known as the state’s “recycling” of political detainees, a practice human rights lawyers say has increased over past years. According to his lawyer, he had been accused in 13 cases before the April release order.The post Sayed Moshagheb trial over homecoming celebration postponed by terrorism court first appeared on Mada Masr.
