WATANI International
16 October 2011
The Maspero attack featured strongly online, especially on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
Activists on Facebook assigned scores of pages and groups to Mina Danial, a Coptic activist of who was active in the 25 January Revolution and who was among those who were killed last Sunday in the Maspero attack. The group “We all are Mina Danial” gathered 3,500 members from the Egyptian Communist Party, the 6 April Movement, and the Youth of Freedom and Justice Movement, who all expressed their deep grief for Mina’s death. Many labelled Mina the “Egyptian Guevara” and used Mina’s photo as their profile pictures.
Disgraceful
A number of Muslim Facebook users, however, questioned the credibility of the bloody photos of the brutal killings of the young Copts. Other Muslims, however, especially those who participated in the protest, refuted these doubts.
On his personal page, the writer Bilal Fadl wrote: “Implementing justice is the only way to put an end to this chaos.” He called for preparing for a massive rally for national unity.
As to the unified law for places of worship, the skeptical writer Galal Amer commented, “a license for a nightclub requires permission from the district head, while licensing a church needs permission of the president!”
The activist Amr Hamzawy commented that the Maspero attack constitutes unjustified violence against demonstrators at a time of ever-increasing attacks against churches and absent legal accountability. The Coptic protest, he wrote, was peaceful and whoever was involved in the violence against the Copts ought to be brought to justice.
Hamzawy also condemned the State-owned media coverage, describing it as disgraceful. He called upon the various religious authorities to pacify citizens and uphold the values of national unity.
Accusations, and a pledge
In a statement published on its website, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)—the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)—condemned the Maspero attack. The homeland’s problems, the statement declared, should be resolved through a framework of common understanding and provisions of the law. The statement acknowledged the right of peaceful demonstration without implicating others or national security.
The FJP had previously denounced the burning of the Merinab church in Edfu, Aswan, Upper Egypt, and described it as a sorrowful incident, stressing that the Copts are part and parcel of the nation.
Several websites published statements by Sheikh Hafez Salama, commander of the popular resistance during the October 1973 War, in which Sheikh Salama condemned the Maspero bloody violence, accusing priests of leading “armed demonstrators who attacked military forces” and sowing sedition in the land.
On his website, the Islamic telepreacher, Amr Khaled, posted the message: “I pledge before God, the Egyptian people, and before my conscience, that I will do my very best to confront all aspects of chaos in the land of Egypt; and not to take part, in words or action, in any sedition that would incite hatred or shed blood on Egyptian land.”
No response
During the talk show al-Ashira Massa’an (10 o’clock) on Dream TV, the judge Noha al-Zeiny, who is member of the National Justice Committee (NJC), disclosed a shocking piece of information when she said that the Cabinet had been informed of a prediction of the 9 October violence, and did nothing to avert it.
In the wake of the first Coptic protest against the Merinab church burning, on Tuesday 4 October, Ms Zeiny said, “We had a meeting with the Prime Minister Dr Sharaf. We listened to the report of the Merinab church Fact-Finding Commission. The report recommended urgent measures which, if taken, would have pacified the Copts and contained the crisis.”
“The committee urged that Mustafa al-Sayed, the governor of Aswan should be dismissed for his political failure, and that already-existing non-licensed churches should be given permits.”
Unfortunately, Ms Zeiny noted, nothing was done. “Dr Sharaf’s no-action response to the committee’s recommendations led me to freeze my activities in the committee,” she said.