Many in Egypt, especially on the official level, have taken to denying the persecution of Copts in Egypt. To these I extend an invitation to visit the towns and villages of Upper Egypt where they are bound to find out first hand how miserably the Copts live there as near-prisoners-of-war to local outlaws and hardline Islamists.
In total absence of any protection by government or State authorities, Copts—the weak, unprotected link in the community—make easy prey. As such they are forced to pay tribute money to outlaws and extremists.
In the village of Qulosna in Samalout, Minya, in Upper Egypt, it has become customary for the village Muslims to fabricate a fight for no real reason with some Copt. In order to resolve the matter, and in the absence of any official channel whereby the Copt may obtain his right, the fight can only end in a traditional urfi conciliation session where the Copt is obliged to pay a ‘fine’.
In Qulosna some three weeks ago, the 62-year-old Copt Morqos Habib Yacoub was forcefully held by the Muslim villager Mahmoud Farid in his home from 10:00pm to 2:00am, after being tricked to go there. Under threat of an axe placed at his back, Yacoub was forced to sign a blank paper. When he was finally left to go home, he filed an official complaint with the police. This provoked Farid to file a complaint against Yacoub, accusing him of illegally digging for antiquities. An official investigation was carried out and proved Yacoub to be innocent of the charge.
While the charge against Yacoub was investigated, the complaint against Farid never was. Yacoub sent several complaints and appeals to the Interior Minister, the Justice Minister, the Prosecutor-General and the Prime Minister. He received no response whatsoever from any of them.
Again in Qulosna, and encouraged by the fact that Farid got away with his crime, an outlaw named Ali Ismail who goes by the name Abul-Sebaa made up a fight with the Copt Mumtaz. Mumtaz insisted on using his first name only; he was so disgraced by what he had gone through. Ismail falsely accused Mumtaz of damaging his house and, in another conciliation session, Mumtaz was fined some EGP30,000. Even after official complaints were made, no official lifted so much as a finger to attempt to work justice.
WATANI International
28 September 2012
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