A urfi or unofficial reconciliation between the monks of the fourth century Abu-Fana monastery and the Arabs—as the tribal dwellers of the Egyptian deserts are called—is due to be held this evening at Deir Mawwas, Minya. The Arabs had last May attacked the desert monastery which lies some 230km south of Cairo, torched and damaged its property, injured four monks, abducted three others and tortured them mercilessly. Ibrahim Taqi, who was at the time visiting Abu-Fana was abducted and nothing is known of him to date. One Muslim, Khalil Mohamed, was killed. Rifaat and Ibrahim Fawzy, two brother contractors who do construction work at the monastery were charged with the murder, even though they were not then present at the site, and even though the after-death examination of Mohamed proved they could not have shot him as testified by those who witnessed against them.
Ramy Rafiq, the lawyer who represents the monastery, said that an agreement of six articles has been reached and should be signed by all parties tonight. The first article stipulates that the witnesses who testified against the Fawzy brothers should change their testimony, thus the brothers may be acquitted and released. The second requires the monks to relinquish their claims against the Arab attackers, especially that the attackers were hooded, so their identity might not have been certain. The other items of the agreement stipulate that none of the parties concerned should make claims against the others.
While many welcome an end to the months-long crisis, activists see in the reconciliation no merit. “Criminals,” said Samer Soliman of Egyptians Against Discrimination, “Ought to be taken to account. Acts of assault, arson, abduction, and torture are crimes against the community and are punishable by law. It is not acceptable that an institutional State should abrogate the law in favour of unofficial reconciliation, thereby letting criminals run free and abandoning people’s rights.”