By Victor Kanayo
President of one of Africa’s biggest football clubs- Zamalek of Egypt, Mortada Mansour, has been jailed for one month.
Mansour was jailed after insulting Rival President Mahmoud al-Khatib, of Al-Ahly, a judicial source told AFP.
Al-Ahly and Zamalek, the country’s two biggest clubs and among the continent’s most succesfuls, are historic rivals whose fans regularly clash after matches.
Mansour was initially sentenced to one year in prison for insulting al-Khatib, a former star player, and his family in a video posted on social networks and on Zamalek’s club channel.
On Wednesday, Mansour’s sentence was reduced to one month in prison and a fine of 10 000 Egyptian pounds.
Mortada Mansour (70) and a former magistrate and member of Parliament, is always in the news for controversial reasons.
In August 2020, there was a hearing in the Egyptian Parliament whether to lift immunity of Mansour, following a voice leak, in which he insulted El Khatib and his former player Mahmoud Kahraba.
In the meantime, Mansour claimed that his phone was hacked by a Qatari intelligence officer.
On 4 October 2020, the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Olympic Committee decided to suspend Mortada Mansour from practicing any sporting activity in Egypt for four years, based on complaints submitted by El Khatib and many others.
In 2007, he was sentenced to three years in jail by a criminal court in Cairo for “insulting” court officials and levelling accusations of corruption against them.
