WATANI International
5 April 2009
Egypt woke up last Thursday to the horrendous news that Muslim fanatics in the village of Shouraniya, Sohag, in Upper Egypt, had set aflame five homes of Baha’is in the village. The fire, which extended to the adjacent homes of two Muslim neighbours, forced the Baha’i families to flee the village, leaving behind everything they owned.
No culprit caught
The village of Sharouniya is one of 12 tiny hamlets that lie on the island of Sharouniya in the River Nile. Some 30,000 inhabitants live on the island, which is accessible only by a daytime ferry and small boats.
When the fanatics set the Baha’i homes on fire on Wednesday evening, they took care, according to the stories of witnesses, to break the water pipes carrying water into their homes in order to defeat any attempt to put out the fire. They moreover placed obstacles on the paths leading into the village, to hinder the police from accessing the place.
The Wednesday fire came in the wake of repeated attacks with stones and rocks against the Bahai homes, breaking windows and wreaking minor damages, since the Saturday before. The attackers shouted slogans of “There is no god but Allah; Baha’is are enemies of Allah”. Even though the police was informed, none of the attackers was caught; the police simply dispersed the crowds.
On Thursday morning the police evacuated all Baha’is from the island, but even then caught no culprits.
”She ought to be killed”
A few weeks ago the Supreme Administrative Court finally put an end to the string of grievances suffered by Egypt’s Baha’i community when it ruled in favour of their legal documents carrying a blank field for religion. Prior to that ruling Baha’is had to be officially cited as Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, since Egyptian law recognises only these three religions. If they refused, the Interior Ministry would not issue any legal papers for them.
The recent court ruling came under fire from Islamists, who view Baha’is as deserters of Islam and, as such, come under the death penalty stipulated by the principle of ridda for all deserters.
On the evening of Saturday 28 March the talk show al-Haqiqa (The Truth), broadcast on the satellite channel Dream II, hosted the journalist Gamal Abdel-Rehim who is also a member of the board of the Journalists Syndicate, to talk about the court ruling. Mr Abdel-Rehim described Baha’is as deserters and enemies of Islam. He condemned their holding of a recent ceremony to celebrate the Nairouz, the Persian New Year day. Not only that, but he criticised the Baha’i activist Basma Moussa, who is a professor at Cairo University’s Faculty of Medicine, saying: “She ought to be killed”. Following the Sharouniya attack, Mr Abdel-Rehim wrote in the daily State-owned al-Gomhouriya praising the Shouraniya Muslims for their zeal and love of their religion.
Similar to Copts
Six of Cairo’s rights groups teamed up and issued a joint declaration condemning the violence against the Baha’is and calling to bring the culprits to justice. The declaration said that the recent attacks against the Baha’is were unprecedented, and “we will not allow those responsible for them to get away with their deeds, as those who carried attacks against Copts throughout the past four decades have.” Members of the rights groups gathered for a stand in front of the public prosecutor’s office asking for an investigation into the matter, bringing the culprits to justice, and prosecuting Mr Abdel-Rehim for inciting violence and instigating the public to kill Basma Moussa.
The public prosecutor has demanded an investigation into the recent attacks against the Baha’is, as well as into the complaint presented by Dr Moussa against Mr Abdel-Rehim for publicly instigating her killing.
Unprotected
Activist Mustafa al-Nabarawi, who heads the Freedom and Democracy Monitor, commented that modern communities have gone from religious allegiance to the values of freedom of belief and expression, values which are unprotected by justice in Egypt, he said.
It is feared that the last attacks would only be a harbinger of what is to come, Ramy Raouf al-Baha’i, media manager of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights said. “As long as the police does not bring the culprits to justice, such incidents will remain, threatening social justice.”
On his part, Adel Ramadan of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said the climate of religious-backed violence in Egypt has become a menace to society, especially within a general weakness of the rule of law. He expressed fears that Baha’is would be in for an unchecked spate of violence similar to Copts.
The State ought to live up to its role of protecting Egyptians, Samer Soliman, professor at the American University in Cairo and member of the Egyptians against Discrimination rights group said. He declared we should all stand up behind the Baha’is, saying: “We are all Baha’is”.