7 Feb 2014

Retrial ordered in football riot case

9:08 am on 7 February 2014

A court in Egypt has ordered a retrial of the 21 people sentenced to death in connection with a football riot in Port Said in 2012.

Seventy four people, most of them fans of the Cairo club Al Ahly, were killed when clashes broke out during a match against the Al Masry club.

The defendants had their sentences upheld by a lower court last March.

But on Thursday, the Court of Cassation in Cairo accepted an appeal by those found guilty of responsibility for the deaths of those who died on 1 February 2012.

The BBC reports many of the casualties were crushed when fans tried to escape from the stadium after a post-match pitch invasion by supporters of Al Masry celebrating the team's victory. Others fell or were thrown from terraces.