The Maspero Youth Union (MYU) has issued a statement in which it called for bringing to justice the criminals who threatened the Copts in the town of Rafah on the Egypt Gaza border in Sinai, and brought about their forced eviction.
It also demanded that the officials who fell short of protecting the Copts should be taken to account.
Rafah Copts were obliged to leave town and relocate elsewhwere, under threats against their lives, homes, and businesses by Islamists and jihadi elements in Sinai. The threats gave the Copts 48 hours to leave town, or else… Even though the Copts stood their ground for a few days, they had to take the threats seriously when masked gunmen shot at a Coptic grocer while in his shop last Tuesday. The grocer escaped uninjured, but the Coptic families all began packing and leaving on Friday.
The MYU demanded an end to the unending chain of persecution of Copts, which makes a mockery of the dignity of the State and the rule of law. It also demanded that the evicted Copts should be allowed to go back home under full security protection. It called for the rebuilding the Church of Mar-Girgis and the Holy Family in Rafah which was burnt and looted a few days into the 25 January 2011 Revolution.
The MYU statement declared: “The Rafah crisis shows how poorly Egypt protects its citizens, and gives the lie to official declarations that Egypt has full control over Sinai which has, to our great chagrin, become a home for extremists and jihadi groups.”
The Coptic youth union expressed great concern that the State disregards the displacement of the Copts, indicating its acceptance of such crimes. The forced eviction of Copts has become a recurring phenomenon after the 25 January 2011.
The persecution of Copts on account of their religion totally contradicts the international human rights treaties of which Egypt is signatory. It is sad that Egypt’s president always speaks about rights of the Palestinians and condemns their forced eviction from their lands, even as he ignores the forced eviction of the Copts in Egypt.
On Friday, as the Copts of Rafah left their homes to unknown destinations, the Rafah crossing was opened indefinitely for the Palestinians to cross into Egypt.
WATANI International
28 September 2012