Watani talks to Abiskharoun Abu-Soliman of Sharbat, Amriya, and his host Mansour
Despite the decision ofthe urfi (informal) council of thevillage of Sharbat in Amriya, during the ‘conciliation session’ it convened on1 February, to banish the Abu-Soliman clan from the village, the Abu-Solimanmen have been taken in by the Muslim Mansour family in their house some 4kmoutside Sharbat. The Abu-Solimans sent their wives and children to reside withtheir extended family in their hometown in Sohag,
Watani metAbu-Soliman and Hassan Farag Mansour, the nephew of Galal Mansour, the head ofthe Mansour clan.
“The ‘banished men’ liveat our house in the village,” Farag said. “No one dares lay a finger on them.We could see no reason to expel Abu-Soliman from the village; he and his familyhave lived among us for so long, and he has excellent relations with most ofthe villagers.
“A barber named Mohamed,who is a friend of the tailor Murad Girgis, circulated in the village thatMurad was having an affair with a Muslim woman. Mohamed asked Murad to pay himto keep quite but Murad refused. When Murad felt pressured, he reported thematter to the police. The villagers got wind of the story, convened a urfi council and ruled that Murad andhis family should leave the village. A couple of days later, and for no clearreason, violence erupted, the Copts were attacked, and the urfi council insisted on banishing the Abu-Solimans from thevillage, even though they had nothing at all to do with the issue.
“I am sure theAbu-Solimans were targeted just because they are wealthy traders; that’s whytheir stores were attacked, looted, and burnt while the police showed very weakpresence. It is in the interest of less competent traders, or people who owethem money, to have them out of the way,” Mansour said.
For his part,Abu-Soliman felt very sorry for the hostility with which the urfi council treated him and his sons.“We did no wrong,” he said.
“On that fateful day Iwas in the shop when a few young men came in and ordered me to close. They saidthe village was in an uproar about the Murad incident; when I said we hadnothing to do with it, they said I must close all the same. At that time Iheard the roaring crowd approach, so decided it was safer to close.
“I went into the house,where all my sons live together with their families. We saw the mob attack andloot our shops, then set them on fire. We went up on the roof from which wemoved to the roof of a neighbouring house. The mob down there was screamingabuses and shouting, demanding they lay hands on our women. One of my sonsfired shots in the air hoping to disperse the mob, but they raged on. His shotsinjured no-one, however. We moved to the roof of a third house from which aMuslim friend named Ibrahim took us away.”
“I had no option but tosign my acceptance of the ruling,” Abu-Soliman said. “There are 54 Copticfamilies in the village. It was impossible to risk the loss of lives. Isigned.”
“I took the Abu-Solimansin because we all love them,” Mansour said. “I went about asking the villagersabout the banishment ruling; most of the men I asked rejected the ruling. Itlooked like no-one apart from the seven who had passed the ruling and a fewothers wished the Abu-Solimans away. I don’t know who appointed those seven mento represent the villagers.”
“I was told my propertywould be sold, but was offered a laughable price. I knew they would be sold ata loss, but not that low. I already lost all the merchandise in my shops. Inaddition, many people owed me money which I would never have regained. Mylosses amount to more than EGP5 million.
Mansour called for therule of law, and an investigating into why those seven men in the urfi council insisted on expellingAbu-Soliman whereas the majority of Muslim villagers rejected such a ruling.Hassan believes the police should arrest the criminals who looted and burnedsince they are known to everyone by and large. If strict action is takenagainst them, he said, no one would dare do any such unwarranted riotinganymore.
WATANI International
17February 2012