Egypt's three main cell phone service providers —Vodafone, Mobinil, and Etisalat — have expressed readiness to cooperate with authorities in their investigation into Wednesday's football violence, which left 74 dead and hundreds injured.
Violence broke out in the Port Said football stadium following a rare win by the local team, Masry, against the rival Ahly team. Thousands of ultras, hardcore football fans, who support Masry swarmed the pitch following the victory and clashed with their Ahly counterparts.
The incident prompted Prime Minster Kamal al-Ganzouri to disband the Egyptian Football Association's board and fire Port Said's security chief.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the companies have offered to reveal telephone records belonging to suspects in the case.
The companies cited a telecommunications law which says that customers' communication records may not be revealed except through permission by the public prosecution.
Al-Masry Al-Youm said the companies have not yet received any requests in that respect. In accordance with the law, the companies will only reveal phone numbers connected with the suspects, without exposing content of what was said during the calls.
Earlier in January, several internet activists called for temporarily boycotting mobile services as punishment to service providers for a communication blackout during the early days of the 25 January revolution.
During the uprising, internet and mobile companies halted their services under pressure from security authorities.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
