AVOID MUSLIM EGYPT

Muslim Attack Injures 23 Coptic Christians

By Ethan Cole

Christian Post Reporter

Mar. 13 2010

Twenty-three Coptic Christians were injured by Muslim extremists Friday after an attack on a church community center, said an Egyptian Bishop.

The attack occurred after a sermon by a radical sheikh and lasted 10 hours before security forces put a stop to it, said Bishop Bejemy to The Associated Press on Saturday. The group of young Muslim men threw firebombs at the Coptic center and at nearby homes in Marsa Matruh, a seaport city in northern Egypt.

According to Egyptian officials, assailants were angry about a new fence erected around the center.

The attack on Copts in Marsa Matruh took place the same day the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement condemning the Egyptian justice system for not prosecuting violence against Copts.

An Egyptian judge recently acquitted four Muslim men of the murder of a Coptic man. USCIRF called it “the latest example in a growing pattern of instances where individuals have not been brought to justice after committing violent acts against Christians and their property.”

Coptic Christian Farouk Attallah was murdered on Oct. 19, 2009. Attallah’s Christian son was involved in a romantic relationship with a Muslim girl. The Muslim men planned to murder the son, but when they could not find him they killed his father. Despite reported witnesses, the court said there was insufficient evidence and acquitted the men.

“This is one of more than a dozen incidents USCIRF has followed in the last year or so in which Coptic Christians have been the targets of violence,” said USCIRF Chair Leonard Leo, who led a USCIRF fact-finding delegation to Egypt in January. “This upsurge in violence and the failure to prosecute those responsible fosters a growing climate of impunity."

“We call on the government to appeal the verdict in the Attallah murder and bring the perpetrators to justice,” Leo said.

Since 2002, Egypt has been on the USCIRF “Watch List” for its serious religious freedom violations, including widespread problems of discrimination, intolerance, and other human rights violations against members of religious minorities.

According to Egypt’s constitution, Islam is the “religion of the state” and the country’s “principle source of legislation.”

Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, complain that they are discriminated against in all aspects of social life, from education to government representation. They also voice grievance over the law that requires them to have high-level government permission in order to repair or rebuild churches. Even though they make such requests for permission, Christians are rarely, if ever, granted the right to repair or build churches. Muslims, however, are allowed to freely build mosques without such government permission.

 

Fragile Muslim-Christian peace crumbles in Egypt

29 September 2008

By Jack Shenker in Cairo

News.scotsman.com

IN THE shadows of the Moqattam cliffs that tower over Cairo's eastern fringes, Safwat Nazeem is picking his way through tens of thousands of empty plastic bottles.

Safwat, like his father before him, is one of the Zabaleen, Egypt's invisible army of refuse collectors who gather the urban waste around them and welcome it into their homes. Their neighbourhood, known as Garbage City, overflows with rubbish all waiting to be sifted and recycled. And after a recent spate of national violence and media intrigue, the Zabaleen have become a community on the defensive.

Like the vast majority of Garbage City's residents, Safwat is a Coptic Christian – part of an eight million-strong religious minority in Egypt that predates the presence of Islam in the country by over 500 years.

In the past months, the country's fragile sectarian balance has been rocked by violent clashes, accusations of discrimination on both sides and rumours of "special interests" spreading disruption from abroad.

In late May, four Christians were gunned down in a Cairene jewellery shop. The government dismissed it as a robbery, neglecting to explain why nothing was taken. Pope Shenouda, the ageing patriarch of the Coptic Church, opted to stay quiet and maintained his silence even when a similar attack took place on a Coptic jeweller in Alexandria a few days later.

But he was forced to speak out on 31 May when a serene Coptic outpost, the 1,700-year-old monastery of Abo Fana, was besieged by dozens of Muslims following a land dispute with local farmers. Although the Abo Fana controversy occurred 300 miles south of the Egyptian capital, its impact was felt throughout the country.

Copts have consistently complained that archaic building regulations hamper the repair or expansion of their churches, strangling the ancient faith with bureaucracy. They also claim they are denied access to key positions in government because of their religion.

Muslim commentators have argued that most Copts are better off than their Muslim counterparts, and that the Christian faithful are being manipulated by external forces using the guise of "minority rights" to interfere with Egypt's internal affairs. Critics on both sides of the divide agree that the potential for sectarian violence is growing.

Safwat shares the fears of many Christians that the changing political landscape in Egypt is threatening his way of life.

Glancing up at a figurine of the Virgin Mary, he sighs: "Islam is the solution is their slogan. But there is no place for Christians in that, no place for anyone else."

 

Europeans kidnapped in Egyptian desert near Sudan

By SARAH EL DEEB – 2008

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Kidnappers have seized 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians during a Sahara desert safari to Gilf al-Kebir, a plateau famed for its prehistoric cave paintings, Egyptian officials said Monday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in New York that the group had been freed unharmed Monday, and a military official confirmed their release. But Egyptian officials in Cairo and New York later said they had not yet been freed and Aboul Gheit's announcement to reporters that they had been let go was based on incorrect information.

The five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian were seized Friday along with their Egyptian guides and drivers while camping near the Sudanese border, Egyptian Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana said before the release was announced. The kidnappers took the captives, including two Italians in their 70s, into Sudan, he said.

Only a few intrepid visitors make the daunting trek of more than a week in 4X4s across the desert to the Gilf al-Kebir, which lies near Egypt's borders with Libya and Sudan beyond a vast plain of dunes known as the Great Sand Sea. It is one of the most arid places on Earth.

The plateau has become increasingly popular among adventure and eco-tourists drawn by the stark desert landscapes and the prehistoric paintings in caves that dot the plateau. They include the "Cave of the Swimmers," immortalized in the 1996 movie "The English Patient." The cave features 10,000-year-old paintings of people swimming, a hallmark of a time when scientists believe parts of the Sahara were covered by lakes and rivers.

The unpopulated region is a crossroads for ethnic African tribesmen — including smugglers — from Libya, Sudan and even Chad, further south. It borders Sudan's Darfur region, where raging conflicts have given rise to armed bandits who have become notorious for robberies and hijackings.

Ismail Khairat, a spokesman for Egypt's U.N. mission, said the tourists have not been released. The information that Aboul Gheit relied on when he announced their release earlier "was based on primary information and it was not correct," Khairat said.

"They are not yet released so far and the government is doing their best to release them," he told The Associated Press.

Rady said the abduction was not connected to Islamic militants, who have previously attacked tourists in southern Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. "This is a criminal act. They are seeking a ransom," he said.

Garana said the tour company that organized the trip negotiated with the kidnappers, who demanded up to $6 million in ransom. He said the German government was involved in the talks but the Egyptian government was not. Germany's Foreign Ministry said only that it had formed a "crisis team" on the abduction.

The kidnapping was only discovered because the Egyptian owner of the tour company, who was on the trip, was able to call his German wife by mobile phone, Garana told state television. The group included eight Egyptians, he said.

The tour owner told his wife that a group of armed men, who appeared "African," drove up to the group while they were setting up their tents, an Egyptian security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. It was not clear when that phone call took place.

Italy's Foreign Ministry said the owner called his wife in Cairo again on Monday night and told her their captors had taken the group to Sudan.

The kidnapped Italians included three women and two men from the Turin area, Italy's ANSA news agency said. Two of the Italian tourists were in their 70s and one was 68 years old, said Italy's RAI state TV.

A tour guide who operates in the area said colleagues in the Western Desert told him the kidnappers were tribesmen. Mohammed Marzouk said there have been previous robberies in the area, most recently in May, when tribesmen seized two tour company SUVs during a desert trip.

Tourism is Egypt's biggest foreign currency earner. The industry was devastated in the 1990s when Islamic militants waged a campaign of violence, including attacks on tourists. The campaign was suppressed in a fierce crackdown by the government of President Hosni Mubarak and the industry has since been rebuilt.

Since 2004, attacks on foreigners shifted to the beach resorts of the Sinai peninsula in northeastern Egypt, with a total of 121 people, including tourists, killed in a series of bombings.

But there have been no major attacks in the capital, Cairo — home of the Pyramids — or the main antiquities sites in the south in more than a decade. There have been no known Islamic militant attacks in Egypt's Western Desert, where the Gilf al-Kabir is located.

The Gilf al-Kabir, some 550 miles southwest of Cairo, is one of the last frontiers in Egypt, explored by a few Egyptian and European expeditions in the early 20th Century. The Cave of the Swimmers was discovered in a niche in the cliff face in 1933 by Hungarian explorer Laslo Almasy. Since then, the Gilf has largely been ignored until it gained the recent notice of adventure travelers.

The Gilf is a giant limestone and sandstone plateau — bigger than Delaware or the island of Cyprus and nearly 1,000 feet high at some points. It is separated from the rest of Egypt by a vast sea of sand dunes.

The plateau is creased with wadis, or dry river valleys, producing dramatic landscapes of dunes washing up against high black cliff faces. The wadis are pockmarked with caves holding one of the richest troves of Neolithic cave art in Africa. Rock faces are covered with red and black paintings of lions, gazelles, bullocks, giraffes and people hunting, as well as silhouettes of hands. Tour guides still boast of discovering new cave paintings.

Tourists are required to get permits from the military to visit the site and must travel in tour groups with at least one security guard. The tour, done in desert 4X4s, can take more than 12 days.

But, as in other places, expanding adventure tourism may be moving closer to zones of instability. Earlier this year, the annual Dakar Rally through the Western Sahara was canceled because of al-Qaida threats of attacks.

Associated Press reporters Paul Schemm and Katarina Kratovac in Cairo and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.

 

Violence mars Egyptian referendum

Demonstrators opposing 'sham' referendum beaten by pro-Mubarak supporters
Compiled by Daily Star staff

May 26, 2005

CAIRO: Plain clothes supporters of Egyptian President hosni Mubarak beat up groups of anti Mubarak demonstrators as voting in a national referendum was expected to clear the way for Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential elections. Critics consider the referendum a sham, saying the rules being laid down ensure Mubarak will have no serious challengers and that his ruling National Democratic Party won't lose its grip on power. The measure was expected to pass easily.

Several opposition groups called a boycott of the vote, and some organized demonstrations. One was canceled amid heavy security and warnings that protests would not be tolerated.

But scattered anti-Mubarak demonstrations took place in defiance of the warnings, some on the margins of pro-Mubarak street rallies, with scattered reports of violence. Many gatherings were broken up by force.

In one, more than a dozen members of the anti-Mubarak movement Kefaya, or "Enough" were beaten by pro-Mubarak gangs. The protesters tried to seek police protection but a high-ranking officer ordered lawmen to withdraw and allowed the attackers to set upon the demonstrators.

Elsewhere, 150 pro-Mubarak protesters attacked Kefaya members, belting them with wooden sticks used to hold Mubarak banners. Demonstrators scattered, with some taking refuge inside the press syndicate building.

Another clash occurred when demonstrators placed Kefaya stickers onto placards emblazoned with Mubarak's face and waved them in the air, chanting: "Leave, leave Mubarak." Plainclothes state security investigators were beating, groping and verbally harassing demonstrators, particularly women.

About a dozen people, mostly women, were violently cornered and surrounded by nightstick-toting plainclothes police. Some began beating demonstrators.

A senior government official said he was "dismayed" by reports of violence, but said there was no intentional harassment of protesters. He asked not to be identified.

Kefaya spokesman Abdel-Halim Qandil said two Kefaya members were hurt; it wasn't clear how badly. Police said 10 demonstrators were arrested.

"This is the first time this sort of beating and humiliation has taken place here in Cairo," Qandil said, but added it has been a problem in provincial areas away from the media.

At polling stations, "no" voters were hard to find, but it wasn't clear whether their absence was due to boycott calls or lack of interest in a measure sure to pass. Many supporters of the measure weren't clear what they were agreeing to.

"Of course I would say yes, because the president is so committed to serving us that he doesn't sleep," said Mohammad Ahmad, a 42-year-old shopkeeper.

Outside Cairo, there were reports of light turnout with many voters saying they were urged to vote or suffer penalties.

"I voted to avoid any government penalty," said Ahmad Hussain Mohammad, a government worker in Sohag, 390 kilometers south of Cairo, who said his colleagues told him that he would be fined if he didn't cast a ballot.

Mubarak has led Egypt since soon after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, reinstalled every six years in the yes-no, single-candidate referendums he is asking the Constitution to end. Mubarak hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.

Egypt's opposition leaders are known in certain circles, but except for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, are relatively unknown to most Egyptians. The Brotherhood, the country's oldest and largest Islamic movement, is believed to have hundreds of thousands of supporters nationwide.

The Interior Ministry has said about 32.5 million registered citizens were expected to vote. Results are expected today. Egypt's semiofficial Middle East News Agency said preliminary results may be available later Wednesday. - AP
 

Deaths increase in Egypt bombings
Official arrest 35, but their links to blasts remain unclear.

By GREG MYRE and MONA EL-NAGGAR
The New York Times

Sunday, July 24, 2005

SHARM EL-SHEIK, EGYPT – The death toll from three bombs at this Red Sea resort rose sharply Saturday. Egyptian authorities said at least 90 people had been killed in an attack strikingly similar to one that tore apart resorts farther up the coast of the Sinai peninsula nine months ago.

The latest attacks, the worst in Egypt, ripped through an upscale hotel, a local market and a parking lot beginning shortly after 1 a.m., a synchronized series of blasts that witnesses and authorities said had occurred about five minutes apart.

Citing police officials, Reuters reported that 35 people had been arrested Saturday, though it was not clear if they were suspected of close ties to the bombers or whether it was part of a general roundup.

Egypt's interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who visited the blast sites on Saturday, said those behind the October explosions in Taba "could be linked" to the ones here.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited the injured in a hospital, and later addressed the nation on television, vowing to track down those responsible. World leaders quickly condemned the bombings.

"This cowardly, criminal act is aimed at undermining Egypt's security and stability and harming its people and its guests," Mubarak said. "This will only increase our determination in chasing terrorism."

The dead and injured included significant numbers of European tourists and Egyptians, with at least 240 people injured, said Essam Sharif, director of emergency medicine in Sharm el-Sheik. The foreign casualties included Spaniards, British, French, Italians, Qataris and Kuwaitis.

The first of the three explosions Saturday was apparently set off by a suicide bomber in a car on a street between the town's Old Market and a new shopping center, killing several people.

The second and worst of the bombings took place along the main strip of beachfront hotels when a bomber drove a small truck through a plate glass window and into the lobby of the Ghazala Gardens hotel. The entrance of the two-story building was reduced to rubble.

The third and least damaging of the bombs exploded in a bag in a parking lot where there were relatively few people. Sharm el-Sheik hosts many tourists this time of year, but the bombing sites were less than packed because of the late hour.

The bombings come about nine months after the attacks in Taba and Nuweiba, north of Sharm, and just south of Israel's border, which also included three closely timed explosions.

Those bombs were aimed at popular sites for vacationing Israelis - among the only places in the Arab world where Israeli tourists traveled in large numbers. Egypt allowed Israeli ambulances and military units to cross the border at Taba to help with the rescue and forensic efforts.

While Saturday's bombings were similar in style, the target was somewhat different. The bombers attacked the largest resort city in a country that is heavily dependent on tourists from Europe and other Arab nations. The attacks could scare away visitors as happened in the 1990s with a previous round of terrorism.

The White House issued a statement saying that "the United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the barbaric terrorist attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that killed and injured scores of innocent civilians from many nations and religious faiths."

The statement said that President George W. Bush spoke with Mubarak on Saturday and offered his personal condolences and the support of the American people.

Egypt and Mubarak have been fiercely criticized by al-Qaida and its adherents for supporting American policy, as well as for its peace treaty with Israel. Egypt has also tried to crush or severely restrict Islamic political movements.

 

Egypt city tense after violence

By Michael Slackman The New York Times
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2005

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt Riot police forces armed with shotguns guarded a Coptic Christian church here over the weekend after Muslim protesters tried to storm the building in a demonstration that was broken up when security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd.

Three people were killed and many more wounded Friday in what officials called the worst case of sectarian violence to strike this Mediterranean city in recent memory.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Friday, apparently angry over a play that was performed two years ago in the church and that was recently distributed on videodisc.

Although few people interviewed Saturday said they actually had seen the play or the DVD, the word on the street was it was anti-Islamic.

The streets remained tense Saturday, and many people warned that foreigners were not welcome. The mood in the city was sour and explosive.

"People are very, very provoked," said Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, 25, a pharmacist whose shop is opposite St. George's Coptic Church. "They are boiling."

While relations between faiths are often tolerant, if tense, in Egypt, there have been signs recently of growing strain between Egypt's Coptic Christians and Muslims.

It was unclear who was giving out the DVD, and church officials, as well as local residents, speculated that its distribution might somehow be connected to the coming parliamentary elections, where aggravated sectarian tensions could help certain candidates.

"We believe that this problem was raised in light of the coming parliamentary elections," a church statement said.

Alexandria, an ancient city founded by Alexander the Great, two hours north of Cairo, is home to one of the country's larger Coptic communities.

Of Egypt's 74 million people, more than 90 percent are Muslim, mostly Sunnis, and about 8 percent to 10 percent are Christian, mostly Copts.

Islam is the official state religion, and all legislation is supposed to be based on the Islamic code.

 

U.S. prods Egypt to clean up election after violence
Tue Nov 29, 2005

By Saul Hudson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States urged Egypt on Monday to clean up its elections, which have been marred by accusations of fraud, voter intimidation and a crackdown on the main Islamist opposition group.

The United States has this year prodded one of its closest allies in the Middle East to improve its democratic record despite some U.S. and Egyptian fears it could destabilize the Arab world's largest country.

The United States has raised its concerns over the parliamentary election, which has been held over several days and will end next month, and asked the government of longtime leader President Hosni Mubarak to allow people to vote freely.

"We would urge the government of Egypt to provide an atmosphere during this election process in which the Egyptian people, all the Egyptian people, can express their will through the ballot box and not fear violence, not fear intimidation by any group," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

Egyptian police arrested nearly 200 Muslim Brotherhood activists on Monday in a crackdown on the Islamist opposition group.

McCormack cited as "sources of real concern" reports that security forces have barred some voters from casting their ballots and that election monitors have been threatened and hampered from observing polling stations.

The criticism effectively put the Bush administration in the unusual position of defending the rights of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that has increased its seats five-fold by fielding candidates as independents.

President George W. Bush vowed this year to make democracy central to U.S. ties in the Middle East and called on Mubarak to lead reforms in the region.

DEMOCRACY DRIVE BENEFITS BROTHERHOOD

But Egypt's parliamentary voting so far has bolstered the view that free and fair elections could empower Islamist parties hostile to U.S. policies in several Middle Eastern countries.

And, while a change in tone has been evident in public statements from the Bush administration this year, critics complain it has held back from demanding quicker reforms in Egypt because of such fears.

Although the Muslim Brotherhood is clearly the strongest opposition force in the country, the United States distances itself from the group to avoid angering Mubarak and supports his refusal to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood as a party.

In keeping with that diplomacy, McCormack did not condemn the arrests on Monday of the activists from the Muslim Brotherhood, which wants greater political freedoms in Egypt and said the arrests were designed to weaken its chances in this week's voting.

But the Brotherhood has benefited from U.S. calls for change, which have helped to open debate in Egypt and emboldened civil society groups to monitor elections much more closely.

And McCormack seemed to welcome their election showing.

"We note that there have been a number of independent candidates that have won seats," he said. "It's important in any democratic process -- for any healthy, vibrant, growing democracy -- that the results of an election reflect the will of the people."

 

In Egypt, election tests U.S. push for democracy Analysis

Vote could put banned group in power

BY SALLY BUZBEE
 ASSOCIATED PRESS

November 28, 2005

CAIRO, Egypt -- For months, the Bush administration has said that it is serious about pushing for democracy in the Middle East. It's about to get a serious test of that resolve.

Egypt, the world's most populous Arab country, is suddenly roiling with a wide-open, combative election that seems certain to end with the country's main Islamic group, the banned Muslim Brotherhood, as a big winner.

The country's rulers, longtime U.S. allies, are starting to show signs of panic: Police have barred voters from polls, and thugs have attacked Brotherhood supporters in recent days in an apparent effort to blunt the group's growing momentum.

The final round of voting is Thursday, but Brotherhood loyalists -- who run as independents -- have already increased their seats in parliament fivefold. That's not enough to unseat the ruling party, but is still seen as a slap to President Hosni Mubarak.

In some ways, despite the violence, the process is going as well as President George W. Bush could hope. Nine months after Mubarak took the first steps toward reform under U.S. pressure, it is indisputably clear that Egyptians hanker for choice and change.

Yet two things about the election could prove deeply worrisome for the West:

·  One is the Brotherhood itself, and what it might do now that it has gained enough power to influence government policy in a secular system it opposes.

·  The second is the turmoil Egypt likely would face during any transition, as Mubarak and his long-ruling elite struggle to decide whether to give up power, and if so, how much and how fast.

Even though Bush says it was hypocritical for the United States to forgo pressing democratic reform on authoritarian regimes such as those in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in return for support on other issues, Washington still needs a few Arab allies at a time when Al Qaeda loyalists are active, Iran is increasingly combative toward Israel and Iraq continues to be bloody.

A chaotic Egyptian government, torn by infighting, would be bad for the United States, as it would be unable or unwilling to help with Arab-Israeli peace or Iraqi reconciliation. Yet a U.S. retreat on democracy would reinforce the view of many Arabs who are suspicious of American motives.

So far, the Bush administration has stressed that it just wants a free and fair vote.

Still, there is American discomfort with the Brotherhood, a group that will almost certainly be less accommodating than Mubarak on issues involving Israel.

Some worry the Brotherhood's more-moderate stance -- it renounced violence in the 1970s and says it wants to create an Islamic nation through peaceful means -- is just a smoke screen.

In reality, many Egyptians who voted for the Brotherhood did so not because they want an Islamic government but to protest a Mubarak regime seen as widely corrupt.

 

Riots throw spotlight on a changing Egypt

Sectarian tension remains high in Egypt just a few days after widespread riots rocked the country. The deadly religious violence has pitted Christian and Muslim protesters against each other. The unrest has thrown the spotlight on the country, exposing deeper changes taking place there, not least with regards to the role of women in Egyptian society. Analysts, for example, say an increasing number of Muslim students are wearing veils.

"I wear the veil to be in accordance with my religion, to protect myself before God," said one student at the University of Cairo. Fighting for more rights is the New Woman Foundation, which says it has been subject to pressure from the police. According to the founder, Nawla Darwiche, women are denied a place in politics and the veil represents religious oppression.

She said: "It's a way of controlling a woman's body. It's like a chastity belt in the middle ages. It's like female circumcision which still exists in Egypt." However, other women, who belong to a group called Muslim Brotherhood, insist the veil has its place. Member Makarem Al Deiri was the only female Muslim candidate in the last elections.

She said: "We must enforce religious values at the heart of each family because this prevents youth delinquency and helps with their education." Georgette Sohbi belongs to the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt. She is one of only 10 women in parliament, nominated by President Mubarak.

She said: "If the Muslim Brotherhood takes power, they'll change the country's laws. I think there'd be violence between Coptic Christians and Muslims. Coptics refuse to be treated like second class citizens, without any rights." With regard to the country's future direction, observers say the role of religion is becoming increasingly important, especially with each side convinced they know which path is best.

 

Egypt a hub of crude anti-Semitic, anti-Western, violence enciting literature: Study

A Study by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies:

29 October 2006

Overview

Between December 21 and 31, 2005, the 17 th International Book Fair was held in Doha , Qatar , under the auspices of the Qatari ruler, sponsored by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage of Qatar. Three hundred and fifty publishers from 17 Arab and Muslim countries had booths exhibiting over 65,000 titles in Arabic and foreign languages, some of it anti-Semitic literature published in Arab countries. Prominent in the anti-Semitic field were Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

This follow-up Bulletin surveys a selection of anti-Semitic books published in Egypt between 2000 and 2006 and sold at the international book fair in Qatar . It includes information about the authors and publishers. Some of the publishing houses are large and well-known , which lends the literature an air of respectability .

The books published in Egypt include anti-Semitic texts which reflect great hostility toward Israel, the Jewish people and the West, and in effect justify the use of violence against them. The main themes appearing in the books are:

The contents of the books express anti-Semitism with principally Western sources, inspired particularly by The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. At the same time anti-Semitism based on Islamic sources is also present, although to a lesser degree. In addition, some of the authors are high-placed PhDs, which makes the literature more “respectable” because they are often interviewed by the Arab media and some of them are often quoted by the Arab Internet news sites. However, some of them are unknown and apparently some of them use pen names.

Making such literature available at the Doha International Book Fair clearly illustrates that Egypt continues as a center for the widespread distribution of hate literature in the Arab-Muslim world despite its peace treaty with Israel . 2 The Egyptian regime would seem to apply rigorous standards of censorship to subjects concerning its own internal security but avoids taking effective steps when the issue is incitement against Israel , the Jews and the liberal West.

 

Egypt Blogger Begins Prison Sentence For "Insulting" Islam ; Christians Attacked

Journal Chretien

February 27, 2007

CAIRO, EGYPT — A young Egyptian blogger who criticized Muslim violence against Coptic Christians was behind bars Friday, February 23, after being sentenced to four years imprisonment for "insulting" Islam, "inciting sectarian strife" and "defaming" President Hosni Mubarak with his Internet writings.

Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, had been a vocal secularist and sharp critic of radical Muslims in his blog. Nabil, who used the blogger name Kareem Amer, often lashed out at Al-Azhar - the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam - calling it "the university of terrorism" and accusing it of encouraging extremism.

Judge Ayman al-Akazi of a court in the city of Alexandria sentenced Nabil to three years in prison for "insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad" and "inciting sectarian strife" and another year for "insulting President" Mubarak.

He said Nabil insulted the Prophet Muhammad especially with a piece he wrote in 2005 after riots in which angry Muslim worshippers attacked a Coptic Christian church over a play deemed offensive to Islam.

"UGLY FACE"

"Muslims revealed their true ugly face and appeared to all the world that they are full of brutality, barbarism and inhumanity," Nabil wrote at the time. He called Muhammad and his 7th century followers, the Sahaba, "spillers of blood" for their teachings on warfare - a comment cited by the judge. However court observers also noted that the judge overlooked Nabil’s clarification of the comments. He said Muhammad was "great" but that his teachings on warfare and other issues should be viewed as a product of their times.

In other writings, he reportedly called Al-Azhar the "other face of the coin of [terror network] al-Qaida" and called for the university to be dissolved or turned into a secular institution. He also criticized President Mubarak, calling him "the symbol of tyranny."

Nabil’s lawyer, Ahmed Seif el-Islam, said he would appeal the verdict. He and human rights groups also warned that the sentencing could have "a negative impact on freedom of expression" in Egypt. "This sentence is yet another slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Program Director of human rights group Amnesty International (AI) in a statement to BosNewsLife.

"The Egyptian authorities must protect the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, even if the views expressed might be perceived by some as offensive." The official said AI considers the blogger "a prisoner of conscience who is being prosecuted on account of the peaceful expression" of his views. AI urged Egypt to "repeal legislation that, in violation of international standards, stipulates prison sentences for acts which constitute nothing more than the peaceful exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion."

"SLAP AND SCREAM"

Nabil, sitting in the defendant’s pen, did not react as the verdict was read and made no comments as he was led to a prison truck outside, eyewitnesses said. Seconds after the door was closed, an Associated Press agency reporter claimed to have heard "a slap from inside the truck and a scream."

Last year another Internet writer, Hala Helmy Botros, was forced to close down her blog Aqbat Bela Hodood, or ’Copts Without Borders’ about the plight of Copts and to stop writing on this subject for other websites. Botros, who is in her 40s, wrote under the pseudonym of Hala El-Masry and became the target of a judicial investigation and was banned from leaving the country, BosNewsLife learned.

Thursday’s sentencing of Nabil came amid growing religious tensions between Muslims and minority Christians in Egypt. This month police reportedly detained Christian families in Upper Egypt and forced them to deny arson attacks on their homes during a spate of anti-Christian violence last week.

Two Coptic Orthodox families said police detained them for 36 hours when they attempted to report a February 13 assault on their homes in Armant, 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of Cairo. The fires came five days after Muslim groups set four Christian-owned shops alight on February 9.

International media said reports of a love affair between a Christian man and Muslim woman sparked the violence, but local media said hostilities broke out over accusations that Christians were blackmailing Muslim women to convert. 

 

Law ends Christian/Muslim organ donation

Hamdi Al Sayed of the Egyptian Medical Association denies that a proposed law would prohibit organ donation between Muslims and non-Muslims. Critics fear further anti-Christian discrimination and violence.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

By Martin Barillas

The Egyptian Medical Association, through its spokesman on August 18, denied that a bill in the Egyptian parliament would discriminate between Christians and Muslims by prohibiting organ transplants between members of the two faiths. The Association supports the controversial measure. “This is all to protect poor Muslims from rich Christians who buy their organs and vice versa,” explained Hamdi Al Sayed – the director of the Medical Association. Under the bill, physicians who violate the proposed law would face retribution.

Al Sayed denied any sectarianism in the proposed law saying that “if some Copts are angered by the law then why is it that Muslims are not.” Even so, Al Sayed said that under the draft law, it’s not possible for a Coptic Christian to donate organs to a Muslim and vice versa simply because donations have been restricted to family members up to the fourth degree. Al Sayed continued “…it is degrading for both religions if lets say, a poor Christian has to sell his kidney to a rich Muslim, or a poor Muslim has to sell his kidney to a rich Christian. It is not right for either religion and that is why we made this law so we can stop organ trafficking.” Finally, Al Sayed continued, “It is not about trying to promote differences between religions but it’s just to minimize the trade of organs as much as we can.”

Speaking for Coptic Christians, Bishop Marcos said “We all have the same Egyptian blood, but if the reason for the measure is to end organ trafficking, we reject it because it may also occur between believers of the same religion.” For Bishop Marcos, the Association’s decision is “very grave” since it can lead to prohibiting blood donation between Christians and Muslims or prevent physicians from examining patients of religions other than their own. “We are afraid that in the future there will be hospitals for Christians and hospitals for Muslims,” said the bishop. Egyptian Christians currently make up approximately 10% of the nation as a whole, which has a population of more than 76 million.

Some Muslims have spoken against the move by the Medical Association. According to Abel Moti Bayumi, of the prestigious Al Azhar Center for Islamic Studies, the prohibition “could lead to discrimination between a Muslim and a Christian living in the same country.” Also, Sheikh Gamal Kotb - former Chairman of the Fatwa Committee – was quoted as saying that there is nothing in Islam that prevents Muslims from receiving or donating an organ transplant from either Muslim or non- Muslim.

For its part, the Egyptian Human Rights Union has brought suit before a court in Cairo against the physicians. Naguib Gibrael of the Human Rights Union believes that the measure “is discriminatory, since it violates human rights, the Constitution, and national unity.” Gibrael denounced the Muslim Brotherhood and its “strong Islamist control over the Medical Association.” Said Gibrael,”If the Medical Association does not annul the measure, there will be more conflict between Muslims and Christians.” The Muslim Brotherhood is the main opposition party in Egypt, which has been linked to Islamist movements worldwide.

During the 1990s, Egypt witnessed a wave of anti-Christian and anti-Western violence led by Islamist groups such as Gamaa Al Islamiya and Islamic Jihad which reaped a toll of some 1,300 people – many of them Coptic Christians – mostly in the southern part of the country. There have been more recent anti-Christian attacks: in June 2008, a monastery in Abu Fana was attacked and burned by Muslims, causing serious injuries to seven monks.

There has been a notable rift between prominent Muslim clerics in Egypt over organ donation. In 2007, the Grand Sheik of Al Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the leader of the most important center of learning in Sunni Islam, announced his willingness to donate his organs upon his death. This was contrary to the stated position of the Muslim cleric Sheik Mohammed Metwali al-Sharawi. Metawali Al-Sharawi has a popular television program on which he declared that since human organs are a gift from God, they should be neither donated nor replaced by Muslim believers.

There is an acute shortage of human organs donated in Egypt, prompting a lively black market. Concern has been expressed by the Egyptian Medical Association and others about “transplant tourists” – foreigners coming to Egyptian seeking transplants who may encourage the trafficking of human organs. In the 1990s, the association moved to limit or eliminate kidney transplant surgery for foreigners coming to Egypt. For Al Sayed of the Egyptian Medical Association, the intention of the proposed law is the elimination of organ trafficking. “If organ donations are from the third or fourth degree of the family then there is less of a chance of a trade happening as it’s not likely that family members will sell organs to each other,” said Al Sayed.

“Egypt is different from other places,” said Al Sayed. “No one really comes up and says they want to donate their organs to other people who are not in their family. This happens in the West but in Egypt it is mostly the poor people who are desperate and end up selling their organs for money.”

Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America.

 

MAIN INDEX

BIBLE INDEX

HINDU INDEX

MUSLIM INDEX

MORMON INDEX

BUDDHISM INDEX

BAPTISMAL INDEX

WORD FAITH INDEX

AMILLENNIAL INDEX

WATCHTOWER INDEX

MISCELLANEOUS INDEX