Chairman of top Egyptian football club Zamalek jailed for libel against head of rival side

Appeals court upholds jail sentence passed against Mortada Mansour last year

Mortada Mansour voluntarily attended Saturday's hearing of the Court of Cassation in Cairo. EPA

Egypt's highest appeals court on Saturday upheld a 30-day jail sentence passed against Mortada Mansour, the head of top football club Zamalek, for publicly defaming the chairman of a rival Cairo side, judicial officials said.

The libel case was brought against him by Mahmoud El Khatib, a star striker in the 1980s who is now the popular chairman of city rivals Al Ahly.

The judicial officials said Mr Mansour voluntarily attended Saturday's hearing of the Court of Cessation in Cairo.

Images posted online later showed him climbing into a police vehicle outside the courthouse that was to take him to Wadi Al Natroun prison complex north-west of Cairo.

Saturday's verdict upholds Mr Mansour's conviction by two lower courts, according to the officials. The second of the two verdicts was passed in August last year.

Mr Mansour has earned a reputation over the years for using abusive language against critics and rivals in television interviews.

Zamalek are one of the most successful clubs in Africa, having won five African Champions League titles and five other continental titles. They have won Egypt's top-tier league 14 times.

However, Mr Mansour's outbursts have hurt the club's image in recent years, although some Zamalek supporters see him as a zealous defender of the club and a campaigner against the alleged bias by football authorities in favour of Al Ahly.

Mr Mansour has vexed many Egyptians for years with his outbursts, which included threats to expose alleged wrongdoing or compromising information about his opponents’ personal lives.

“I salute all those who still believe there is no solution to this country's problems except when we have a nation ruled by just laws applied to everyone,” Amr El Shobaki, a former lawmaker and one of the country's most prominent political scientists, wrote on Facebook after Mr Mansour's sentence was upheld.

With no recourse to appeal after Saturday's court verdict, Mr Mansour is no longer eligible to continue as club chairman, paving the way for the election of a new board of directors.