A Giza misdemeanor court on Saturday renewed the 15-day detention of Sayed Ali El-Azab, also known as Sayed Mushagheb, leader of the Ultras White Knights fan group, along with five others. The group faces charges of illegal assembly, obstructing a public road, disturbing citizens, and possession of flares, following celebrations marking his return home after 11 years in prison.
Mushagheb returned to his home in Cairo's Boulaq El-Dakrour district Thursday evening, welcomed by supporters, after the Supreme State Security Prosecution had ordered his release on April 6. But hours later, the interior ministry announced his rearrest with the five others. It labeled him the “leader of an illegal sports association,” and pointed to reports of “assembling, committing acts of rioting, lighting fireworks, and obstructing traffic in a street in Boulaq El-Dakrour, while chanting slogans of an illegal sports association, causing terror among citizens.”
At Saturday's video-link renewal hearing, lawyers Osama El-Gohary, Mohamed El-Baqer, and Nabeh Elganadi sought release on court terms, but the judge refused.
El-Gohary, speaking to Al Manassa, challenged the evidence and procedures. The arrests occurred at homes, not on the street as reports claimed, he said, urging neighbor testimony. He also dismissed flare connections: “Only one sealed, unused flare was found—no spent ones.”
Prosecutors alleged a premeditated celebration. El-Gohary countered that no one knew the release date, as National Security does not announce them. “Supporters gathered spontaneously due to his popularity,” he explained.
Regarding whether there was a prior agreement with security that Mushagheb and his supporters violated by celebrating, El-Gohary indicated there were no prior security warnings given to his client against a gathering, emphasizing that the family had been waiting for his release for days.
Asked whether Mushagheb is re-entering the cycle of political pretrial detention, El-Gohary argued that “this case is completely different; the matter is proceeding as a criminal case, not a political one. The charges are different. There is no ‘terrorism’ or talk from the past of which we were acquitted.”
El-Gohary explained that the case files lack any political dimension despite the charges of protesting and illegal assembly. “There were no political slogans for it to be a crime. Illegal assembly must have a political purpose, and there is no political purpose in the papers; they gathered out of joy,” he said.
Nevertheless, El-Gohary expressed surprise at the decision to renew the detention. “We expected to take him home with us today,” he said, considering the incident to be nothing more than a minor infraction. “We haven’t seen anyone remain in detention for long because they held a party and lit a flare. Usually, a warning is given and the prosecution releases them on bail.”
Mushagheb was originally arrested in 2015 and remained in prison beyond the legal duration of his sentence due to the refusal of relevant authorities to count his pretrial detention toward his prison term. According to the Adalah Organization for Human Rights two weeks ago, he was also subjected to the policy of “recycling,” where he was added to new cases to keep him in continuous detention.
