In a bold move, the television channel al Mihwar through its daily talk show hosted a debate under the title “The fears of the Copts under a predominantly
In a bold move, the television channel al Mihwar through its daily talk show hosted a debate under the title “The fears of the Copts under a predominantly Islamic parliament.” The debate was between the Coptic lawyer and head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Naguib Gibrail, and MP Farid Ismail, member the Executive Council of the Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) political arm: the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).
The Revolution’s Parliament
Mr Gibrail brought out in the debate all the points that the Copts fear will not get any support from a predominantly Islamic parliament. He began by pointing out that only six Copts had been elected to the new parliament and five were appointed, exactly the same proportion of Copts who made it to the last five parliaments under the pre-Revolution regime. During the swearing in of the new MPs, Mr Gibrail said, a number of Islamist MPs insisted on adding the clause: “according to the sharia of Allah” to the constitutional oath, flaunting thus a very obvious Islamic inclination, and insinuating that Egyptian laws include articles that do not conform to sharia. They were stopped in their tracks by MP Mahmoud al-Saqqa who, as the eldest MP presided over the swearing in until a speaker was elected, and who drew their attention to the non-debatable constitutional article which stipulates sharia as the principle source of legislation.
MP Ismail responded to Mr Gibrail by reminding that this is the Revolution Parliament, many of its members were down in Tahrir Square during the Revolution, and that, even though the FJP had a 47 per cent majority, the other political parties represented in Parliament are sure to have a say. “We will adhere by the main demands of the Revolution: social equality, increasing salaries and social insurance pay, and passing a law to govern the police forces and one for civil workers. MP Ismail added that, with regard to the Copts who ran for Parliament, their numbers were few to start with and there was nothing that could have been done when they did not win. As for the ‘modified’ oath, he said, not one member of the FJP had used it—it was the Salafi MPs who did—and “there is nothing wrong with adding a clause to the oath, since that clause is in accordance with the second article of the Constitution.”
Unified law for places of worship
Mr Gibrail asked whether the FJP would discuss in Parliament the bill for a unified law for places of worship that would put churches and mosques on the same footing, the bill against religious discrimination, and the demand for an investigation into the 2011 New Year bombing at the Church of the Saints in Alexandria, as well as investigations into the violent attacks against Copts and their churches in Soul, Etfeeh, and in Mapero. He also asked why the prevalent practice of collective punishment against Copts for totally unsubstantiated allegations was condoned by the authorities, as in case of the recent Amriya incident. MP Ismail replied that Egypt is currently in a state of chaos with inadequate police services, and ensured that the unified law for building places of worship will definitely be on their agenda. He said that, after the Revolution, there were three scenarios to destroy Egypt: create sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims, create total chaos, and finally try to create a confrontation between the people and the army. Since the army was our only hope to salvage the Revolution, the plan to create a rift between it and the people did not work, he said. Christians and Muslims are one, he insisted; there was no difference between. MP Ismail then recited a few Qur’anic verses to prove his point.
Underage Coptic girls
At this point, Mr Gibrail brought up the issue of the ‘disappearance’ of underage Coptic girls who are forced or misled into converting to Islam. Even when the topmost Islamic authority in Egypt, al-Azhar, Gibrail said, rejected their conversion on the grounds that they are underage and hence their conversion is illegal, the girls were not handed to their families, but were placed in Islamic institutions. To which MP Ismail replied that, only the previous day, he had handed a request for an inquest into the cases disappeared girls—Muslim and Christian. Mr Gibrail remarked that there was discrimination against the Copts especially when it comes to girls being kidnapped, but MP Ismail responded that the MB youth, alongside all Egyptian youth, protect Egypt. MB youth, he reminded, have secured Parliament and MPs while in session. To which Gibrail replied that enforcing security was the primary role of the police; when the MB youth seize this role they send the message that the police are not capable of carrying it out.