A parliamentary committee on Tuesday heard the testimony of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim on the violence that erupted after a football match in Port Said Stadium between the Ahly and Masry soccer teams, killing at least 71 people.
Ibrahim’s testimony came before People Assembly's hearing committee in a closed meeting as part of the assembly’s process of accusing the minister of failing to do his job during the incident, Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
The hearing committee includes chairman of the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Mahmoud Khudairi, chairman of the Committee on Suggestions and Complaints Talat Marzouk, and MP Essam Sultan, from the Wasat party.
Parliament discussed on Monday the preliminary report prepared by the fact finding committee researching the incident, which held security forces, the stadium administration and the Egyptian Football Union responsible for the incident.
State-run Al-Ahram newspaper's website on Tuesday quoted parliamentary sources as saying that Ibrahim assured Parliament that security forces provided investigators into the incident with all the necessary information, and that whoever is proven to have been negligent in securing the match would be held to account.
Ibrahim told Parliament that a ministerial committee is reviewing the laws that regulate the work of the police, adding that his strategy upholds human rights in dealing with citizens, and that he would not tolerate any officer failing to do his job properly.
He also said that police recovered are operating at about 60 percent of their capacity since the 25 January revolution, adding that there are criminals who devise schemes to weaken the police in order to make Egypt insecure.
