FIFA’s expert condemns Egyptian authorities over Algerian bus attack

The Swiss expert who was assigned by the International Football Federation (FIFA) the task to supervise the return match Egypt versus Algeria last November counting for the qualifiers to the World Cup, has written a severe report in which he laid the blame on the Egyptian authorities for the attack on the Algerian bus ahead of the match, a source from the FIFA has revealed to Echourok.

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• Walter Gagg has singled out the behaviour of the Egyptian fans against the Algerian delegation since its arrival to Cairo airport until their departure, the same source has indicated.
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• One of the points on which Walter Gagg has insisted is the itinerary of the Algerian bus as he wrote “ Movenpick Hotel, the Algerian delegation headquarters, is three minutes away from Cairo international airport, but the bus has spent 15 minutes to arrive”. He has indicated that the bus driver has spent a long time on the road enabling thus the Egyptian fans to attack the Algerian players with stones.
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• Walter Gagg has further noted on his report that the bus’ windows were shattered from the outside contradicting the version of the Egyptians Federation’s officials who have declared that the Algerian players have broken the bus’ windows to simulate an attack.
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• On his report, the expert has revealed that several Egyptian policemen in civilian clothes got on the Algerian bus and tried to clean it up in order to dissimulate evidences, which is in itself a proof that the Algerian players were attacked from the outside.
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• He mentioned Lemouchia and Halliche’s blood
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• In addition to the attempt made by the Egyptian authorities to hide the debris of the shattered windows, the Swiss express has mentioned in his report that the Egyptians stones have injured both the Algerian payers, mentioning the names,  Khaled lemouchia and Rafik Halliche.
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• Walter Gagg has added to his report photos of the players Khaled lemouchia , Rafik Halliche and Rafik Saifi indicating that they were attacked by the Egyptian fans, worsening thus the case of the Egyptians.
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• Walter Gagg has also indicated in his report that the Algerian bus was attacked by Egyptian fans while they were moving to the stadium for a training session before the match, but there wasn’t any material or physical damage.
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• It should be noted that the FIFA’s Disciplinary Commission has heard Walter Gagg over the last few weeks and repeated the same version of facts that he recorded in his report. The Swiss didn’t, at any moment, mention isolated acts but rather talked about a chaotic situation in Cairo.
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• In the light of this overwhelming report, FIFA could issue extremely severe sanctions against the Egyptians and may prevent them from taking part to the next Qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.
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• Raouraoua reserves a surprise to his Egyptian counterpart
• Both the Algerian Football Federation President Mohammed Raouraoua and his Egyptian counterpart, Samer Zaher are expected to appear today before the FIFA’s disciplinary Commission to give their version of facts. At the moment when the Algerian official is set to forward additional overwhelming evidences likely to complicate the Egyptian case, his Egyptian counterpart, for his part, will content himself with denying the facts.
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• Samer Zaher has asked from other parties to play the mediator between him and the Algerian Mohammed Raouraoua in order to convince him to withdraw the complaint against Egypt, but the proposal has been ruled out by the Algerian side, it said.
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