At a press conference last Sunday, the Coptic Youth Front gave a report of Coptic suffering under the Islamist rule and the blind eye of State authorities. And as though the agony of the suffering were not enough, the State is forcing the Copts
At a press conference last Sunday, the Coptic Youth Front gave a report of Coptic suffering under the Islamist rule and the blind eye of State authorities. And as though the agony of the suffering were not enough, the State is forcing the Copts, under the pretext of “solving the sectarian problem”, to sit to informal ‘conciliation sessions’ in which they are cornered into relinquishing their rights, legal and otherwise.
It was not the Islamist authority alone that came under fire, the Coptic youth strongly criticised Anba Abra’am, Bishop of Fayoum for what they described as his mismanagement of the Seresna incident during which the Muslim villagers of the Fayoum village of Seresna waged an attack against the church of Mar-Girgis in the village. Anba Abra’am attempted to cover up on the Islamist attack and understate the damages suffered by the church and the Copts, claiming that the relations between the Seresna Copts and Muslims were excellent and that the trouble had arisen because of the village priest. The bishop accepted to sit to a conciliation session in which the Copts were forced to accept unfair conditions for peace to reign in the village, said Rami Kamel member of the Coptic Youth Front. The Copts of Seresna held a fiery meeting with the deputies of the bishop to protest his handling of the situation, but the bishop himself made himself scarce.
Kamel condemned the discrimination against the Copts of Egypt, under official inaction. No better example, he said, than the excessive attention paid by the government and security authorities in Kom-Ombo, Aswan to the incident of disappearance of a young Muslim woman from Kom Ombo. The case was solved in less than 48 hours and the woman was returned home. This stands in stark opposite to the official neglect of the disappearance of hundreds of Christian girls, with no clue whatsoever being given about their fate despite the shocking fact that most of them are under age and despite the agony of their families and friends.
Kamel gave an account of the Copts grievances in the mere seven days from 26 February till 3 March.
The unsolved case of the disappearance of the 14-year-old Aida Bibawy for the third month, amidst complete silence from the security apparatus.
The beating of the fifth-primary Coptic schoolgirl Mariam Makram Kamel by her Muslim schoolmates because she had a Christian ringtone on her cellphone
The disappearance of Neveen, the wife of Nasser Boulos, after she attended church.
A jihadist group releasing a video tape threatening to blow churches by means of car bombs.
The prosecutor’s office decision to release the captor of 16-year-old Dalia Alfy Yacoub without bail.
On 2 March, Bandar Malawi police station refused to give the Copt Bassem Nash’at Naguib the serial number of the official complaint he had filed when he was attacked by masked men who shot at him and stole his car.
The killing of four Copts in Burg al-Arab, south of Alexandria, after neighbours accused them of intending to building a church on a plot of land they owned.
The court ruling to hand the children of Ezbet Marco, aged 8 and 9, accused of disdaining the Quran, to their parents, instead of acquitting them. This implies their guilt rather than their innocence.
The disappearance of the two Coptic girls Amany al- Nimr Saad and Reem Samir Naguib, aged 17 and 16, from the village of Ezbet Deir Muwwas in Minya.
On March 1, the kidnapping of 5-year-old Kirollos Medhat Khalaf from the village of Taha El-A’meda in Samalut for ransom and the police station’s refusal to file proceedings.
On February 28, the detention of 100 Egyptian Christians in Libya by Islamists on the charge of preaching Christianity, an incident that faced by complete silence from the Egyptian authorities.
The siege of the Church of Mar-Girgis in Kom-Ombo by Salafis claiming that the church kidnapped a Muslim woman and converted her to Christianity.
The break-in of a house owned by the Bishopric of Biba and asking for the sum of EGP200,000 to return it.
The kidnapping of doctors Samuel Louis Mikhail and Shenouda Nimr Malak and their release after a ransom of EGP1 million was paid.
The siege of the Bishopric of Beni-Sweif by the Salafis claiming that the church is hiding a girl who converted to Christianity and giving the Church a three-day notice to return her.
The siege of the church of Abu-Maqar in Shubral-Kheima by Salafis on the claim that it was built without permit.
Said Fayez, coordinator of the Coptic Youth Front, said that President Mursi has lost his legitimacy because he turned a blind eye to crimes against Egyptians who do not belong to his Islamist party. Fayez said that in so doing, Mursi is an accomplice in the crimes against the Copts.
Fayez declared that the Front was giving President Mursi a 48-hour notice to restore the law and take to account those responsible for the assaults against Christians. If these demands are not met, the Coptic Youth front will announce a Week of Coptic Anger during which demonstrations will be held in front of the embassies of foreign countries in Cairo asking for the support of the international community to pressure Egypt into applying the law and implementing the international treaties to which it is committed. If the Copts’ demands are still not met after the Week of Coptic Anger, the Front will start gathering signatures of Copts and demand to emigrate thus forming a group exodus from the discrimination of the Salafis and the MB.
Watani International
5 March 2013