Egypt's Olympic body suspends Zamalek football club chief

Egypt's Olympic body suspends Zamalek football club chief
Egypt's Olympic body has suspended Zamalek football club chief Murtada Mansour for two years.
1 min read
21 October, 2018
Mansour has for years been a thorn in the side of Egypt's sports scene (Getty)
The general assembly of the Egyptian Olympic Committee has ratified a two-year suspension of the chairman of Zamalek, one of Egypt's top soccer clubs.

Comprising national sports federations, the assembly decided Saturday to write to Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi about the "illegal" use of parliamentary immunity by Murtada Mansour — in order to escape legal proceedings over alleged financial irregularities and verbal abuse of sports figures.

It also decided to schedule meetings with the country's top prosecutor and the speaker of parliament to find ways of lifting Mansour's immunity.

It said Zamalek teams would be given until October 28 to play home matches, but would lose the privilege if Mansour does not make himself available by that date for questioning by the Olympic committee.

Mansour has for years been a thorn in the side of Egypt's sports scene, with his use of profanities a feature of his TV appearances. A one-time judge who now runs a law practice, Mansour has routinely threatened critics with allegedly incriminating voice recordings.

In September, the Cairo-based Confederation of African Football fined Mansour $40,000 and suspended him from any soccer activity for a year for claiming the 2017 election of CAF chairman Ahmad Ahmad was corrupt.