Footballer Ahmed Abdel Zaher, banned and put up for sale for making a political gesture after scoring a goal, is not Egypt's first sporting casualty.
The way in which a prominent Egyptian football player is being treated since he allegedly expressed political views on the pitch this weekend goes to the core of some of international sport's problems: a refusal to recognise the inextricable linkage between sports and politics; the manipulation of football by regimes in the Middle East and North Africa with the tacit endorsement of the international football association FIFA; and the continuous flaunting of rules and regulations by international, regional and national sports governing bodies.
On 10 November, Ahmed Abdel Zaher scored a goal for the Cairo-based club Al Ahly in the African Champions League Final against South Africa's Orlando Pirates, helping Africa's most successful club become African club champions for an eighth time. However rather than being showered in glory by his club this week, he has found himself suspended and up for sale, despite having four years left on his contract.
The reason for his fate comes down to the fact that in his goal-scoring celebration, Zaher held up four-fingers in a gesture that has come to symbolise solidarity with the hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters killed by security forces this August in a raid of a sit-in at the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square mosque. 'Rabaa' in Arabic means 'fourth'.
The clearing of the protest was the start of a deadly period in which as many as 1,300 people - mostly those protesting against the July overthrow of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first freely-elected president - have been killed. Although the state of emergency and night-time curfew were lifted on Tuesday, having been in place for three months, tensions between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and the new military-led regime are still running high.
Zaher's gesture was interpreted by many as a symbol of defiance against the government, and it is believed that Al Ahly's decision to sell their star striker has come at the behest of Taher Abouzeid, Egypt's sports minister, and the Egyptian Football Association (EFA).
Putting four fingers up to the government
According to Al Ahly, Zaher's suspension, which also bans him from playing in next month's FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, was "due to the club's rejection of mixing of politics with sports" and a necessary move in accordance with its "commitment to FIFA rules" that ban any expression of political or religious views on the pitch.
Following the match on Saturday, Zaher initially said his gesture was intended to express sympathy for those killed during the Rabaa mosque eviction, but denied it had been political. "Yes I raised the sign of Rabaa," he said, "but I didn't mean political excitement to any one side or fan. All I meant to do was to remember the dead, whether in Rabaa, any other citizen and even policemen." His agent, Mohammed Shiha, echoed that Zaher's "behaviour was only to show solidarity with one of his friends who died in Rabaa." However, the player more recently apologised openly, saying, "I realise I have embroiled myself in an unnecessary political issue. This shouldn't have happened."
Nevertheless, Zaher was banned a day after the EFA said it would interrogate him and after a statement was released by sports minister Abouzeid, saying that "We expect the club's board and the Egyptian Football Federation to take action against the player" and that "I am confident that the club officials and the Federation will take the necessary measures in this regard."
Zaher is not the first athlete penalised for showing the anti-military four finger sign. Late last month, Kung Fu fighter Mohamed Youssef was suspended for a year for wearing a t-shirt depicting the gesture after he won a gold medal in the Sports Accord Combat Games in Russia.
These episodes put a spotlight on the fact that the notional separation of sports and politics in reality allows autocracies to strengthen their control. Indeed, autocratic rulers in Egypt and across the Middle East and North Africa have historically used sport to curry popular favour, polish their often tarnished images, and prevent the pitch from becoming an opposition rallying point. During the rule of Hosni Mubarak, for example, the president showered victorious footballers with gifts and in turn they largely turns a blind eye to the fact that Arab autocrats and members of ruling elites control clubs either directly or indirectly.
On a technical note, some analysts have also questioned whether the EFA actually has the authority to penalise Zaher given that the match was part of the African Champions League, a competition organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). They note that in 2008 - during which time Israel and Hamas were fighting in Gaza - it was CAF rather than the EFA that sanctioned Mohammed Aboutreika, Zaher's teammate, for flashing a pro-Palestinian t-shirt during an African Champions League match.
Political penalties
The Egyptian government and military strongman General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would have been sincerely hoping that Saturday's game wouldn't involve any embarrassing incidents.
Firstly, the match was not only of an international scope but was the first match to be played in front of large numbers of fans since the Port Said football riots in February 2012 in which 74 peopled died. That brawl, and the way in which security forces did little to intervene, was believed by many to have been an attempt by the military to teach a lesson to Al Ahly fans - who were highly active in the protests that led to Mubarak's overthrow - that got out of hand.
After the deadly incident, fans were banned from attending matches. But with Al Ahly reaching a hugely important final this year, and with the team's supporters vowing to force their way into the stadium if need be to watch the match, authorities calculated that allowing fans to attend would constitute a lower risk than barring them from entry. In and around the stadium, fans commemorated the 74 who died at Port Said with chants and posters.
However, contrary to the government's hopes for a calm evening, hundreds of fans also clashed with police who retaliated by firing tear gas to repel the protesters. The Egyptian military's international claims that the country's political crisis is behind it and that stability has returned were dented.
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Secondly, with the second leg of Egypt's World Cup qualifier against Ghana coming up - a match meant to take place in Egypt and one likely garner even more international attention - al-Sisi would have hoped the Al Ahly game would demonstrate Egypt's ability to host without any problems.
To the embarrassment of Egypt's government, Ghanaian officials had already been calling for the venue for the game - which happens to fall on al-Sisi's birthday - to be moved to somewhere less politically volatile, with Ghana's sports and youth minister commenting, "when they are killing their own people and life and property is at risk, how can we play there?"
Despite these protests and the clashes this weekend, Cairo has since been given the green light to host the World Cup play-off. But like the Egyptian national team - who were thrashed 6-1 by Ghana in the first leg - al-Sisi knows that Egypt's international reputation has been significantly tarnished and that it will take much rebuilding.
A version of this article was originally published here on The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.
James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), co-director of the University of Würzburg's Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of blog The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer and a forthcoming book of the same name.
